Taking the world by storm
by NerdyNobody
Summary: Thirteen years after the NERDS organization was shut down after complications due to the FBI a new villain is on the rise. However with the NERDS disbanded and the members in completely different states, who will stop him?
1. How it all started

JJ thought this was going to be a nice day. They really did. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and there was a nice breeze blowing away the heat of the sun. However that day quickly turned horrifying when they decided to go on a walk for some fresh air. There was currently a large robot crashing through the streets of their town and JJ had been forced to run and take cover in a nearby school when they had encountered it, just barely evading it's claws. Needless to say, this was an unnatural and horrifying experience for a twelve year old child. They were currently slumped against a slightly rusted locker, beads of sweat dripping down their bronze skin and green eyes wide.

"Jesus fucking christ. What the absolute shit." The words spilled from their mouth in short pants, still attempting to get a grip on what the hell was happening. The child reached into the pocket of their baggy red sweatpants and pulled out their phone, quickly going to dial 911. But just as their finger was about to press the the button, they paused.

The police already likely knew about it. It wasn't like a giant robot that was destroying an entire town wouldn't be seen by someone. JJ sighed and placed the phone back in their pocket, sliding down the locker.

"Jesus christ. Whatever the hell is going on, I'm really hoping whatever that thing gets dealt with soon." They muttered to themselves, straightening their black tanktop out and sitting up to look around. The school they were in had to be closed down due to something that had to do with the FBI just before they were born. They never divulged why, but everyone knew something was up. Suddenly, a voice echoed through the empty halls, making JJ jump and put their fists up defensively, narrowing their eyes in suspicion. JJ waited a minute, but the voice didn't seem to be getting any closer. It didn't seem to be stopping either. They strained their hearing. The voice was electronic and glitched, not unlike that of a broken toy.

It was repeating the same words over and over again, glitching off before starting up like a broken record player.

"Prepazzt prepazzt prepazzt" Despite the glitching, there was a definite female pitch to the voice. JJ slowly made their way towards the voice, still wary, turning a corner and into another hallway, finding the voice to originate from a locker that was on the wall. JJ put their hands down and raised a brow. "What the hell?" JJ took a second to inspect the locker. It was rusty from the years of not being maintained, and now that their taking a close look at it, the top was sparking as if there were wires running through it. Strange. Lockers didn't have wires in them. They stepped into the locker to inspect it, which wasn't all that hard considering they were tiny, only standing at 4'3 despite their age. As soon as JJ did this the voice stopped for a second. It suddenly began again, this time finishing its sentence.

"Prepare zztt entrance zzto the plaztyground."

JJ's eyebrows furrowed "The wha-" They didn't get to finish their sentence, as the floor of the locker dropped out from under them, causing JJ to let out a loud yell as they fell downward. They were hurled every which way. Up, down, and sideways, yelling all the while. Suddenly, a blast of air came from below, slowing down their freefall. However it was not enough to stop them from crashing to the ground, unable to prevent themselves from letting their head smack against the hard marble floor. Almost immediately, their vision became spotty and began to blur and darken around the edges.

"Fuck." They groaned, not attempting to get up. They knew if they did, there would be a high chance of them completely falling over. The room swum about them, and they closed their eyes in a desperate attempt to get their bearings. Where were they? What had happened? Why did they fall down here? Questions whirled around their mind like a tornado, only making the pain in their head worsen. It wasn't long until their consciousness finally faded away, leaving them cold and alone in an unfamiliar place.

{Yeah, I'm going to be going over some earlier chapters of this fic and tweaking/fixing/revamping them, since I think they need a bit of work done}


	2. Stuck in a rut

When JJ awoke, it was with a groan. Their entire body hurt, most prominently their head. They took a couple minutes, but eventually was able to roll on their back and open their eyes.

"What in the hell...?" The room was slightly dark, as it seemed that more than a few lights on the ceiling were broken but still lit enough that they could see.

They sat up, rubbing their head and examining the room that they were so rudely dropped in. It was huge to say the least. The room was shaped like a dome, and it had multiple screens spanning the entirety of it. There were desks around the room, and papers and gadgets strewn across the floor, almost as if the people here had left in a great hurry. Multiple places around the room were sparking and very broken. It had obviously not been kept well.

After examining the room, they did a self check, making sure that nothing vital was injured. Luckily other than the fact that a large bump had made itself clear on the back of their head. JJ ran their hand through their light brown hair, examining the platinum blonde tips. Standing up, they reached into their pocket, and pulled out some pieces of scrap metal. They started making their way around the room, examining the things strewn around it, fidgeting with the metal pieces all the while.

They would occasionally stop and pick up a few papers and read them through, although most of the things that they said made little sense to JJ. They eventually made their way to the front of the room, which presented a large computer, seemingly not connected to the screens on the wall. For a moment they stopped twirling the metal around their fingers as they noticed a button on the side that seemingly had the telltale power button. Walking to it, they put a hesitant hand on it, considering what it might do.

"Aw what the heck. Nothing TOO bad could happen. Right?" They pressed the button.

As soon as they did so, the computer immediately started whirring up a storm, making loud popping and electric noises. JJ immediately backed away, arms raised in front of them just in case the computer decided it wanted to make their day even worse and explode. However such a thing did not happen. They covered their eyes and blinked a bit to get used to the light that emmited from the terminal as it turned on. When the computer finally finished booting up, it came to what looked only fairly like a desktop screen.

"Sweet." JJ said, grinning.

Once they moved back to the center of the terminal, they took ahold of a small sphere, which looked to be what the mouse was. They hated those types, but they dealt with it. For the next couple of hours, they scanned through files, codes, and info that had been stored on the computer, growing more and more shocked as they read it through. JJ didn't know at what point the metal made its way back into their hands, but when they finally decided they were finished fishing for info, it was twirling around their fingers at a rapid pace.

"Okay. Alright. This is fine. There was actually a team of kid superheros who fought crime like in the movies right under your nose, but this is fine."

JJ was not sure what they thought of this. One part of them wanted to start squealing and the other one wanted to lie on the floor and realize the implications of what this meant. However they were unable to make a choice before their phone started buzzing. They took it out and fumbled with it for a bit before finally checking out what notification they had gotten. It was a notification from emergency the emergency lines. They read in increasing horror as they saw that the entire town was being evacuated, although the success of this was minimal. Multiple people had already been taken hostage by the robot that was rampaging around.

JJ needed to sit down for a second as they realized what this meant. No doubt their parents had already evacuated, and they were still stuck in this facility.

"Shiiiiitttt." They swore, putting their head in their hands. Trying to run away would surely get them captured, and who knows what would happen then. Shaking the thoughts out of their head, they realized they were probably going to be staying here a lot longer than they had anticipated.

[Authors note: Hey guys! I probably should have made a note before, but I didn't think to lol. So, this is my first fic. Im sorry if its not all that good. these first chapters have all exposition and no dialogue. XD Dont worry tho. I'll definitely have some more dialogue in later chapters. until then, see ya!]


	3. Getting an upgrade

It had been two weeks since the day JJ had been dropped unceremoniously into what was called "The Playground", and since then a couple of things had happened. JJ had made The Playground sort of a home base. A place they knew was fairly safe, and wouldn't be infiltrated easily. After they had found a way out, they had immediately gone to loot a few abandoned stores for supplies before coming back and setting up. First thing they did was place multiple cushy and soft things on the landing area so they didn't have a repeat of what had happened before.

After that, they had moved the desks around so as to be less of a hassle to maneuver around. Then they picked up all the papers from the ground and put them in neat piles on one side of the room, as well as carefully picking up the gadgets and moving them to the opposite side. When they finally finished turning the place into a little bit less of a mess they went back to the computer and ran a diagnostic on the facility. It seemed that the place was only functioning at 43% of its normal power. Most of the percent was focused on one particular room, one they had come to learn was the upgrade room. They dared not try to go in, in fear of the room malfunctioning and possibly doing something horrible to them.

Currently JJ was laying on the blankets they had spread on the floor as a makeshift bed and twiddling with the small piece of scrap metal they always kept with them. They had found it when they were only a small child, and hadn't let go of it since. They would constantly fiddle and fidget with it whenever they were bored, nervous, or thinking hard. It was a small, seemingly insignificant thing, but it meant a lot to them.

For a few minutes they sat in silence, before reaching into their pants and pulling out their phone and checking the news. The situation above ground had only gotten worse. Much worse. The villain who liked to call himself "The judge" had taken over two more towns in the span of their stay at The Playground. They knew one thing. Something had to happen, and it had to happen soon. In their escapades outside they had bore witness to what a sadistic, fucked up phycopath this man was. They was VERY lucky to have gotten away from him to put it very lightly.

"Damn dude. Where the hell are the superheros when you need em?" JJ muttered as they stretched out their legs and sat up.

For the next minutes they thought, and thought, and thought. They knew what they had to do, but if they COULD do it was a completely different ballgame. Finally they decided. They were not going to allow themselves to sit around and do nothing while that phycopath was running around taking over the world. No way in hell. They stood up. They were gonna do this, and they were gonna need help. JJ walked briskly over to the door of the upgrade room, only pausing for a split second before entering. A steel door immediately slammed closed behind them, and what looked like a metal slab rose up from the floor.

JJ hopped onto the table, and clamps clasped themselves over their hands and feet. They tensed up as a laser scanned over them and a electronic voice said

" **SCANNING FOR WEAKNESSES** " For a second JJ regretted going in here, and wondered about all the things that could go wrong, although those thoughts were cut off as the same electronic voice echoed in the room. " **WEAKNESS DETECTED. PREPARE FOR UPGRADE**."

"Yeah? What is it?" JJ inquired

" **SUBJECT** **CONSISTENTLY** **FIDGETING** **WITH** **OBJECTS** **WITH** **METAL** **PROPERTIES**." JJ raised a brow, however their curiosity was drawn to a halt as syringes and the sort surrounded them, and instead gave way to slight panic.

"Wait wait wait, can we stop?" The computer was silent as JJ was injected with the nanobytes and they blacked out.

When JJ woke up a couple minutes later, they felt slightly strange. Some sort of power was rushing through their body, and they couldn't say it didn't feel weird. They exited the upgrade room and made their way back to the main one, reaching into their pocket and pulling the scrap metal out of it. When they touched it however, their fingers started tingling. They were confused for a moment, but it gave way to shock and excitement as the metal started to float above their hand.

"Oh. Well thats pretty cool!" They laughed, making it shoot around their body and into the air, bending it and unbending it, making every shape they could possibly think of. JJ's face grew a huge smile as they pondered the limits of this power.

They let the small piece of metal float in front of them as they brought their hand up and concentrated on the gadgets around the room. Sure enough JJ felt the power rise through their body and the gadgets all rose off the ground, orbiting slowly around JJ's body. For a minute they tested out these new powers, taking the gadgets apart and putting them back together. This didn't go on for too long though. There wasn't any time for messing around. They had lots of work to do.

For the next few days, they spent all of their time transforming the school into an impenetrable base. They used bits and pieces of other buildings, creating large walls around the school and beginning to fix The Playground with the help of some blueprints that they found. The upper floor turned into multiple different storage stations, mainly for weapons and the like. The Playground quickly went from being only 43% operational to being 98% operational. JJ hardly got any sleep in these days. The judge had taken over three more towns when they finished. Unfortunately JJ knew that even with their new upgrades, they probably wouldn't be able to stand up to him. But that didn't matter. Because they were determined they were going to get help from some of the best agents that they could. The NERDS.

[Authors note: Sup! Now that Im done with all that exposition and build up and stuff, I think we're ready to get into some juicy stuff! I hope you guys have liked the story so far!]


	4. A new friend

JJ was determined that they were going to find the previous operatives of the NERDS. However, there were multiple problems with that. One, they had no idea where they were, and two, they didn't plan out how exactly they were going to get to them once they found them. It was something that they needed to look into. That was for later though. Currently JJ was stalking along the street on a supply run, watching and listening for The Judges goons along the otherwise empty streets.

They were able to get some good looting in, and checked off their list of things they needed for the base and some personal essentials like food, medicine, and the like. They were almost halfway back to their base when a sudden ruckus made itself clear a couple blocks down. JJ immediately made their way quickly and quietly down the street to where the commotion was. What they saw made them tense. It was three of The Judges goons, and they were surrounding a small boy, seemingly a little bit older than JJ. One of the goons had picked him up by the collar of his shirt and was laughing sadistically at him, brandishing a knife to his jugular as his friends cheered him on. The boy was flailing and crying in a desperate attempt to make the goon release him. It obviously wouldn't happen unless they stepped in.

"Hey! Goons! Put him down!" JJ called. The goons immediately reacted. Turning to look at them. They boy had stopped crying to look at them.

"Well well well. What do we got here boys? Trying ta pull a hero act little girl?" The man chuckled slightly, before gesturing his head to them.

"Get her." At the order the two men rushed at them. JJ's eyebrows furrowed, and they cracked their knuckles. This should be fun.

The first goon tried to pull a punch on them, but they dodged out of the way easily, grabbing his arm and throwing him off balance. They lifted their leg and sent a powerful side kick to the goons ribs, making him keel over, after which JJ swiftly sent a karate chop to the back of his head, incapacitating him. The second goons eyes widened, pausing for a moment, before charging them. At this point JJ had reached behind them, pulling out a metal baseball bat. The bat swirled around them for a second as they took in the terror in the goons eyes.

"What the hell?!" The goon yelled, backing up. JJ grinned, sending the bat flying forward with a flick of their wrist and promptly knocking out the second goon.

They looked back up at the lead goon. He was obviously nervous and was backing away from them.

"H-Hey, stay the fuck back or this kid gets it." He pressed the knife into the kids neck, a small rivulet of blood going down it. JJ paused a second before letting out a low growl.

"I dont think so motherfucker." With a flick of their finger, the knife jerked away from the boys neck and out of the goons hand, coming to float into their hand. The goon looked back and forth between the boy and his knife, bewildered. Without any warning, JJ rushed forward, bat in hand. They swung a large ark over their head and straight into the hand holding the boy. Crying out in pain, the goon dropped him and clutched the injured limb to his chest. JJ pulled the bat behind their head with both hands.

"Oh, and by the way. Im not a girl. I have no gender. only rage, bitch." JJ swung the bat down hard, slamming into the goons skull. That was gonna hurt in the morning.

As the goon fell unconscious, they finally had the chance to give the boy they had just saved a closer look. The boy was very thin, and his hair was curly and pale blond. His light brown eyes were wide and he seemed to be shaking slightly. JJ didn't blame him. They would probably be too if they were in his position. It took a minute, but they reconized him! He was in the grade same grade as them, and took a few classes with them. His name was Noah Peet if they remembered correctly.

"Noah! Dude, is that you?" they asked, grabbing his hand and pulling him up.

"JJ? What the heck was that? How did you" JJ put a finger on his mouth, politely shutting him up.

"I'd much rather we had this conversation in a safer area. If goons attacking you didn't say enough." Noah nodded, and they made their way back to the base. JJ laughed when Noah's mouth nearly dropped to the ground as he took in the sight of the base. There was a huge wall of metal held up by screws and bolts and different things. JJ flicked their arm down and a giant door came down like a medieval bridge. Turning to Noah, they made a lighthearted bow, presenting the enterence to him.

"After you sir." They said grinning. Noah smiled a bit and entered, JJ following behind them and closing the gate back up.

They shuffled inside and JJ showed them to the locker. Noah raised an eyebrow at them.

"Uhhhh, JJ, this is a locker." JJ sighed.

"Yeah Noah. I know its a locker. please get in so I can have an eaiser time with this." For a second Noah hesitated giving the locker a once over, before stepping in. Seconds later the floor dropped out from under him. After a bit of flying around every which way, a sudden blast of air came from under him and stopped his falling

landing him lightly on a large pile of soft pillows and blankets.

A few seconds later, JJ drops in behind him, giggling lightly.

"That never gets old." Noah gaped at the room, taking in the sights. JJ had cleaned it up quite a bit, and it was looking very neat.

"JJ, wha- What is this place?" JJ grinned, walking in front of him.

"Noah my friend, welcome, to The Playground!" For the next hour or so, they answered questions and gave what information they could from what they had learned from the computer, as well as their plans to bring the NERDS back together and take back what The Judge had taken.

"And so yeah!" JJ elxcalimed, "As soon as I figure out where everyone is, I'm gonna make em join the NERDS again!" Noah was sitting on JJ's makeshift bed and listening to them as they talked, watching small pieces of metal fly jubilantly around their body.

"So, who are these agents anyway?" Noah inquired

"Well first of all is Ruby, or pufferfish as they called her, peeeee-" JJ's words suddenly faded out as they started connecting dots and the wheels in their head started turning.

"Noah, you dont happen to have a sister named Ruby do you?" JJ asked

"Actually, yeah, I do! How did ya know?" At this, JJ promptly squealed and picked Noah up, jumping happily

"Okay, okay, dont freak out, but take a look at this." JJ sprinted over to the terminal on the wall, clicking through a few files and the like before landing on one. In this file held the info on agent Ruby "pufferfish" peet. As well as a few photos and videos.

The more info they looked at, the more bewildered Noah became. Eventually he had to sit down to process it all.

"My sister was a secret agent. I actually can't believe it." he said, putting his head in his hands

"Believe it dude. All the evidence is in front of ya." JJ leaned her elbow on the top of his head "Now I hate to skip to the point so fast, but do you know where she lives?" Noah looked up at JJ

"Yeah. Mom and dad and I send her letters all the time. She's in lake city in new York city." JJ grimaced at that. New York city was a good eight hours away just by car.

"Oof. That's a ways away. How are we gonna get there?"

"I dunno. Maybe we could steal a van and take it there." Noah said jokingly, laughing a bit.

However, to Noah's horror JJ didn't laugh back. Instead a large grin split their face.

"Hey! Great idea!" Noah bristled and waved his arms furiously.

"JJ, no. That was a joke. We can't drive across the state. Dont even think about it." Three hours later, JJ and Noah were sitting in a van they had just stolen, with JJ in the drivers seat, and Noah sitting beside them.

"This is the worst idea you've ever had and it will be a miracle if we dont die.

" Oh come on Noah! It won't be all that bad!" Unfortunately, it was.


	5. The first member

The drive to New York city was a nightmare to say in the least. JJ had nearly crashed at least four times, and Noah was clinging to his seat the entire time. The fact that they hadn't been pulled over by cops was a miracle. They pulled over in a parking lot as soon as they could, although JJ had to move the car a bit to make sure it was in a space. They both tumbled out of the van and onto the concrete, JJ giggling hysterically.

"Holy crap Noah, we did it." Noah gave them an incredulous look

"Yeah! And almost died, like what, ten times?!?" Noah screeched

"Aw, don't be negative nelly, Noah. It wasn't all that bad!"

JJ took a good look around. They had arrived at the edge of a large city, quite close to a cafe actually. In truth, they could probably use some food. It had been a long drive with no stops, and they could probably use a bathroom right now.

"Hey Noah, you hungry?" JJ asked, gesturing to the cafe

"Definitely." The both of them trodded over to the cafe and entered. It was a small and cozy and the people working there seemed really nice. They took a seat at one of the booths and a waitress came up to them.

"Hey there honeys, is there anything I can get for ya?" They took a look at the menu for a second before deciding that JJ would have the chocolate chip pancakes and bacon and Noah would have the Texas toast sandwich. JJ had pickpocketed more than a few goons, so money wasn't a problem.

After the waitress left to get their orders JJ turned back to Noah.

"Can you believe it? We are actually doing this. It kinda feels surreal if I'm gonna be honest." Noah nodded

"I feel you. It really is weird. I'm surprised we even got this far."

"Yup. Now that we're here, you know where the address is, right?"

"Yeah. Luckily its not way too far. We should be able to walk there from here actually." JJ grinned.

"Great!" The waitress arrived with their food, they ate, went to the bathroom and left the cafe.

JJ skipped along the sidewalk, and Noah jogged behind them, both taking in the scenery. Finally they found the address that they were looking for. It was a two story house that was painted a generic eggshell white, with red trimmings around it. Noah and JJ looked at eachother before walking up to the door and ringing the bell that was beside it.

"One minute!" Someone yelled. A couple seconds later, the door opened to reveal a young woman, seemingly no older than twenty five. She had extremely kinky golden blonde hair that was pulled back into a low ponytail on her head. She wore large square glasses on her nose and was slightly tall. Her eyes widened when she saw Noah.

"Noah? What are you doing here? And who is your friend?" JJ looked at him, before looking back at the woman

"Are you miss Ruby peet?" They asked, which she raised a suspicious eyebrow at.

"Well, yes. Who's asking?" JJ grinned a little

"Me. I'm here to bring the NERDS back together." As soon as they said that, it was like a switch was flipped. Ruby jerked up and took a step back, almost as if she had been punched in the gut. She whipped her head around before grabbing the two of them and tugging them both inside.

"How did you learn about the NERDS?" She asked. JJ decided that they wanted to show off.

They looked around before their gaze landed on a lamp that sat in the corner of the room. Turning their palm up, they gestured towards them with a finger, and sure enough, the lamp lifted up and floated easily towards them. Ruby watched it happen with wide eyes.

"Let's just say I fell down a hole." Ruby put a hand on her head and closed her eyes.

"Hold on. I need to process this. Take a seat would you?" She gestured to a room branching off from where they were, that was seemingly a living room with a couple couches and a TV as well as a coffee table in the middle.

After sitting down, Noah and JJ explained their situation, how they had came to find The Playground, their plans to stop The Judge from taking over the world and the like. Ruby nodded as they explained, processing what they were saying.

"So wait, one question, how did you get here? The town you were in was a good few hours away." Noah and JJ both grimaced at eachother

"Uhhhh, well, JJ kinda stole a van and drove us here?" Noah said nervously. Ruby immediately gave the two of them am incredulous look.

"Excuse me, did I just hear you say you DROVE here????"

"Yeah. We drove here. It was JJ's idea."

Ruby placed her head in her hands and let out a long drawn out groan. She shifted her hands and gave the two of them a one eyed look, before sitting straight up.

"You know what? OK. I'm gonna help you two. One, because I dont want children driving cross country, and two because I would really rather not be enslaved by some phycopath dictator." JJ squealed happily, jumping up and tackling Ruby into a hug. She stumbled back a bit, before awkwardly patting their back.

"Alright, so do you know where the others are?" The looks they gave her said enough. This was gonna be a pain in the ass.


	6. Reasoning and researching

JJ woke up due to the fact that they fell off of the couch that they were sleeping on. Yesterday Noah and them had found the woman by the name of Ruby 'pufferfish' peet who was a part of the team they aimed to put back together. Although unfortunately, it was getting slightly late when this happened, so they only had a small bit of research time. After that, Ruby offered to let JJ stay in the guest room, but they decided they would rather sleep on one of the couches and let Noah sleep in the guest room.

Yawning, JJ stretched their arms above their head before letting them fall back to the ground.

"You alright there?" Asked Ruby, who had just walked into the room

"Yup. I do this all the time." JJ replied, standing up and plopping back down on the couch they had fell off of. Ruby had a two plates of bacon and eggs as well as a plate of toast balanced on her arms. Setting them down she sat next JJ and looked at them.

"Are you sure you want to do this? Theres no guarantee that this is gonna work. Someone might even not want to be back on the team." She said. JJ looked back at her, before switching their gaze to their lap.

"Yeah. I know this might not work out how I want it to, Not many things do, but I have to try." JJ clasped their hands together and placed their chin on them

"I knew from the start that this was a really messy plan. It was a spur of the moment decision, and I had no means planned it out at all, but I know it was the right thing to do. Theres no way in hell that I'm just gonna roll over and hope that the police are gonna deal with it, because by this point, they've proved themselves to be pretty damn useless."

There was a fire in their eyes that Ruby had to admire. They had obviously made up their mind, and there was no backing down from it.

"Alright. Whatever you say. You shouldn't be swearing though." She said.

"Get fucked." Ruby put a finger up and opened her mouth to scold them, but stopped.

"Fair enough." She said, taking a bite of her toast. Eventually, Noah finally plodded down from upstairs, running a hand through his messy hair.

"Sup bedhead." JJ joked. This earned them a glare from him and a slight smirk from Ruby.

"Your breakfast is getting cold. Better eat it." She said. Noah walked over, dropping on the couch, and digging into the bacon and eggs. After finishing up breakfast they all sat down for some reaserch. Ruby read over phone books and the like, Noah scanned newspapers, and JJ used Ruby's laptop to browse the internet.

It was a couple hours of searching, asking eachother whether they had found something, hitting dead ends, and groans of frustration. They were starting to give up hope, before Noah gave out a sudden victorious cry and pulled them over.

"Guys! Look at this!" Ruby and JJ scanned the page, and immediately saw what he was talking about. In the corner of the page, there was an advertisement for a hospital. There were a couple people posing for the photo on it, and among them was a young man. His face had changed a bit with age, but there was no mistaking the face of agent Heathcliff Hodges of the NERDS.

"Amazing job Noah! You did good!" Ruby praised

"Yeah! Ya did it buddy!" JJ said, giving a bear hug. Noah blushed a bit from the praise.

"Are we gonna check it out now?" JJ nodded.

"Let's do it." They jumped up to start getting ready, but they paused.

"Oh wait. We should probably go get that van first though. We left it a little ways from here near a cafe." They all nodded at that.

"Probably. We dont want to be leaving stray cars willy nilly all over the place."

After getting ready, they all took a walk down to the cafe where JJ and Noah had left the van. Ruby immediately took charge of driving the vehicle. No way was she gonna let the kids drive again. And soon enough they were on their way to Albany. Although much to Rubys chagrin, JJ and Noah were singing along with the radio quite loudly the whole time.


	7. Well aint this place hospitable

The drive to their destination wasn't all that long. Albany was significantly closer than their first drive, and traffic was, fortunately, light. Along the road JJ and Noah would occasionally sing along loudly with the songs playing, and when there was an ad break they would ask Ruby questions about her time as an agent in the NERDS. The ride went without incident, and soon they had arrived in front of a quite large hospital.

"Alright kiddos. We're here." Ruby said, turning to Noah and JJ

"Woohooo! Yeah!" JJ cried, opening their door and jumping out. Ruby and Noah followed their example, unbuckling and stepping out. They stretched their legs a bit before starting to walk towards the hospital.

"So, I'm guessing we just go in and ask if doctor Hodges is there?" Noah asked

"I'm guessing. Hopefully he didn't change his name again." Ruby replied. JJ and Noah raised a brow at this

"What do you mean? Did he used to change his name a lot?" JJ inquired.

Ruby flinched at this. Seemingly remembering something that she would rather not remember.

"I'll tell you in the future. Its probably best to get everyone back together first. Its a bit of a long story, and I don't want you jumping to conclusions about him. Hes changed a lot." JJ and Noah looked at eachother with confused looks, but dropped the subject, opting to bring it back up at a later date.

They opened the double doors to the hospital and entered into a large reception hall. There was a cirlcled desk in the middle of the room that had a space for about six receptionists to sit at inside of it with room to spare. The group walked up to one of the receptionists at the desk. She had an apathetic look on her face that told them that she would probably rather be somewhere else than working here.

"Ah, uh, hello miss, we would like to see one of your doctors?" The woman gave the group a once over

"Have you booked an appointment?" Ruby cringed a little

"Well, no, but its important. Do you have a doctor working here named Heathcliff Hodges?" As soon as the receptionist heard that name she let out a loud groan before giving them a strange look.

"Yeah. We do. He's an annoying guy if you ask me. Why do you need to see him?" the receptionist asked

"He's an old friend of mine." replied Ruby.

The receptionist shrugged before picking up a phone that was close to her and dialing a number.

"Dr. Hodges? Yeah, some people are here to see you." A unintelligible voice came through the phone, and the woman nodded.

"Third floor room six."

"Thanks." Ruby said, placing her hands on JJ and Noah's backs and ushering them to an elevator at one side of the room. They entered it and pushed the button for the third floor.

"So, what do you think hes gonna think?" Noah asked. Ruby seemed to think for a moment, before shrugging.

"I really don't know. Hes probably changed a lot." The elevator stopped, and the doors opened, letting the group exit into the hallway. They trodded down it until they reached room six, looking at eachother before JJ knocked on it.

"Come in!" Said a voice from inside.

Sitting in the room was a young man. His hair was a bright redish orange and stood up a good amount. He wore a set of glasses similar to Rubys that covered two lime eyes and was sitting at a desk close to the wall. Ruby smiled a bit at him.

"Hello Heathcliff. Long time no see." Heathcliff gave her a confused look, giving her an up and down with his eyes.

"You look familiar. Do I know you?" Ruby raised a brow at him with a laughing smile

"What, you dont recognize me? I knew I changed, but I didn't think I changed that much. Its Ruby." Heathcliff's eyes widened, jumping up he rushed over to her with a giant grin on his face.

"Holy crap! Ruby? Its really you? Why are you here? And how did you find me? Who are these kids with you?" the questions were being thrown rapidly, and eventually JJ got annoyed, and placed a hand flat over his mouth, shutting him up.

"Whoah whoah woah. Hold up there dude. First things first. We're here to bring back the NERDS." Heathcliff froze, staring at JJ like they had a second head.

"Wha-" He looked back and forth between the group.

"What? Am I going crazy or something?" He sat down and layed down onto the ground.

"I'm going crazy arent I." For a minute he mumbled to himself while JJ in particular gave him an exasperated look. His mumbling was stopped by a small piece of metal smacking him in the forehead.

"Nope. Your not going crazy. This is happening. JJ said as the same piece of metal that had smacked him in the forehead floated into their palm.

Heathcliff didn't respond for a second. Only staring and processing everything. Suddenly a large grin nearly split his entire face in half.

" WOOHOO!!" The sudden loud woop of happiness caught them all off guard, causing them to jump. Heathcliff hopped up and promptly grabbed JJ under their arms and spun them around in the air. JJ laughed a little at this. Heathcliff put them down after spinning them and immediately gave Ruby a large hug.

"Oh my GOD. I can't believe this is actually happening! You have to tell me everything." JJ, Noah, and Ruby looked at eachother and nodded. For the next few hours they answered as many questions as they could, bringing Heathcliff up to date on everything they were doing. Heathcliff nodded along as the info came to him, giving the kids a surprised look when they told him how they had quite literally driven eight hours to get to Ruby.

"So, thats pretty much it. Are you with us or not?" JJ finally asked after finishing the story.

"Do you even have to ask? Of course Im with you." He replied. They all agreed to meet up early tomorrow morning at a frozen yogurt place to reaserch together. Over all JJ would say they considered it a successful day. They were doing this. The excitement of that came with that statement nearly kept them up all night.


	8. On the dock

JJ woke up from their sleep, luckily not falling off the couch this time, to Ruby shaking them and telling them to get ready. After waking up Noah and brushing their hair they all hopped in the van to meet up with Heathcliff. On the ride JJ looked at the news through their phone, which they knew they probably should have done earlier. They put it back in their pocket and started looking a bit more anxious.

"Something up JJ?" Noah asked. JJ shook their head at him

"Its probably better we discussed it when we have Heathcliff with us."

Noah nodded in understanding and dropped it for then. The ride was fairly quiet this time. The only sounds being the radio, the rumble of the van's engine, and the cars outside. They arrived at the place without incident luckily. At this point in time the scrap metal JJ always kept in their pocket was twirling in and around their fingers, occasionally stopping to rest in their palm. Walking into the building, they spotted Heathcliff sitting in one of the booths. He waved them over with a smile when he saw them.

"Hey guys! How was the drive?" He asked

"Pretty good. No traffic, which was a miracle." Ruby replied, plopping down next to him and leaving the kids to sit on the other side. They chatted calmly for a couple minutes before getting their orders and starting to get down to business.

"Alright, first of all, you guys need to see this." JJ said, pulling out their phone and showing them all what was on its screen.

It was a news article. Not only that, but it was about The Judge. There had been four more town takeovers, and not a single person who was sent to take him down came back alive. Often if they did came back, it was as brutally ripped apart corpses. The rest of the group jerked back in absolute horror. JJ definitely had reason to be nervous.

"We really need to up our A game people. If we slow down we might not be able to get everyone together in time." JJ said solemnly.

Everyone nodded at this. With that, they all started up their reaserch. It ended up being four days before anyone found something significant. The group had decided to meet up in a park along a nice lake with a dock, which had a very nice view in JJ's humble opinion. Noah was sitting on one of the swings in the park gently swinging back and forth. Ruby and Heathcliff were sitting together and looking at her computer as she tapped furiously at it. JJ was laying on the dock, dipping their feet into the water and browsing the net on their phone. It was quite peaceful.

The next hour consisted of chilling on their respective seats, and occasionally yelling to eachother asking if they had found anything. Until JJ suddenly let out a loud woop of joy and ran over to Heathcliff and Ruby, yelling to Noah for him to get over there. As soon as Noah got there, they thrusted their phone in the groups faces. On the screen was a website. It was for a college in Ohio. On the side of the page was a list of top teachers of the month. And sure enough, on that list was a familiar name.

Jackson Jones. Or, if you were referring to his codename, braceface.

"Hey! What do ya know! Its braceface!" cried Heathcliff. The rest of the group grinned.

"Yeah. But he's also in Ohio. Anybody ready for a drive?" JJ said. The group nodded at eachother

"Let's go." Ruby said, closing her laptop and standing up. Everyone else followed close behind.


	9. He just wants to grade his papers dammit

The drive to Ohio was unfortunately, not as lucky as their other drives. There had been a car crash on the highway they were driving, and traffic had backed up a long way. Ruby, who was at the wheel, let out a loud groan of frustration and let her head drop onto the wheel, causing the horn to make a long beeping honk noise. JJ was equally as frustrated as her, they had never been the most patient after all. They were VERY tempted to just move all of the cars out of the way with their upgrades. Heathcliff stopped them from doing this however. They were just lucky that the scenery was fairly nice.

"Ain't this just GREAT." JJ said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Calm down. Our exit is right up ahead." Ruby replied, pointing to it. After a couple more minutes, they were finally able to get off the highway, and onto their road. It took a little while of missing turns, arguing which way was the right one and asking for directions they had reached the college. JJ took a mental note to download a GPS on their phone next time they had a chance before examining the college. It was pretty damn big in JJ's own words.

Students went to and fro walking along the campus grounds and chatting with their friends.

"Wow. Thats...pretty big." Noah said. The rest of the group nodded.

"Exactly my thoughts Noah. We should probably split up to find this guy quicker. It'll take all day to find him if we stick together. And we don't have all day." JJ replied. Ruby and Heathcliff gave eachother a unsure look. Neither of them really wanted two children walking around a crowded college campus alone. JJ saw the looks and rolled their eyes at them.

"I know what you're thinking ya know. we'll be fine. There are people everywhere, and if someone tries to do something funny we can just scream for help. Not to mention I have my upgrades if I need em." JJ said to them, making their scrap metal float above their finger and smirking cockily. Ruby sighed, running a hand through her hair and looking at Heathcliff for an opinion.

"I mean, their not wrong." He said, shrugging. Ruby nodded and turned to the kids.

"Alright. Be careful then, and scream if you need help." She said. JJ and Noah nodded, opening their respective doors and hopping out. JJ immediately ran into the school, while Noah opted to stay outside and ask around with the students mulling around. Ruby and Heathcliff entered the school as well, branching off into different hallways. On JJs escapades, they ran into a student, who gave them a confused look.

"Hey, what's a kid doing in college? Where are your parents kid?" She asked, kneeling slightly down to JJ's level.

"Do you have a teacher here named Mr. Jones?" They asked back.

"Oh! You mean professor Jones? Yeah! Hes my history professor. Hes a dreamboat too." She replied, gigging slightly. JJ cringed a bit. Ew.

"Yeah, well thats great. Can you tell me where his class is?" The student nodded at them.

"Yeah! His class is three hallways down, left right left. Its the last one on the left, but why do you need to-" She wasn't able to finish her sentence. JJ was already gone.

Sprinting down the hallways, occasionally running into the wall on accident, they finally arrived at the door. They looked into the room through the glass panel on the door. Inside was someone who seemed to be grading papers. His hair was a bright blonde and was slicked back. He had bright blue eyes and the beginnings of a goatee growing on his face. No doubt that this was him. JJ opened the door, and called to him.

"Hey, yo! Are you professor Jones?" They asked. He seemed to be surprises by their entrance, turning to look at them. Once seeing a smallish child walking into the room, he gave them a semi confused look.

"Why, yes I am. May I ask who you are?" JJ grinned, padding over to him. They leaned onto his desk and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Names JJ. And I'm here to get you back on the NERDS." Jackson jolted backwards, eyes widening.

"What? But, the NERDS were disbanded years ago. Theres no way tha-" He was cut off when the pen in his hand tugged out of it and flew into JJ's waiting palm. They gave him a smirk with a raised eyebrow.

"Care to revaluate that thought?" They asked. Jackson seemed to need a minute to process this. He ran a hand back through his hair before putting the other one over his mouth and looking at JJ.

"If you're wondering how I found out about you guys, I'll just say that I took a very unceremonious and painful drop into the playground." They said, wincing at the memory.

"The playground? I thought they destroyed it?" JJ shrugged at that.

"Apparently it didn't work as well as you guys wanted it to then. I mean, the place was pretty fucked when I found it. Pretty much everything was either broken or barely functioning. I was just lucky that I was able to get the computer working." Jackson seemed to think on that for a second.

"We knew something was up. Must have been an error in the system that made the deactivation less effective." JJ nodded and crossed their arms.

"Makes sense." they suddenly paused for a second, seeming to realize something.

"Oh shit, I forgot I was supposed to call the others when I found you. Hold on." JJ pulled out their phone, dialing a number and calling it. They talked for a second before hanging up and doing the same for another number. They did this one more time, and in a couple minutes there was a knock on the door, and sure enough, Ruby, Heathcliff, and Noah entered the room.

Heathcliff immediately had a wide grin cross his face before jogging over to Jackson and slapping his back a few times.

"Jackson! Buddy! Its been a long time, how have ya been?" He asked. Jackson seemed to recognize him quickly, a large smile splitting his face.

"I've been doing good! How about you Heathcliff?" He replied, giving Heathcliff a couple pats on the shoulder in reply.

"I've been great! Its exciting to be putting the team back together again!"

Next in line to greet him was Ruby. She walked over to Jackson and gave him a light smile and handshake.

"Jackson."

"Ruby." The handshake seemed to last a bit longer than they usually do, and they seemed to be staring at eachother. Noah let out a small 'ahem' to break them up. They immediately let go of eachothers hands and turned away. JJ immediately noticed both of their blushes. They gave Ruby a slight eyebrow wiggle, going to make a suggestive 'Oooooo' noise, but she immediately noticed and clamped a hand over their mouth, glaring.

"Alright, but if you dont mind, can we go now? Times a wasting!" Noah said, giving them all a look. They all nodded.

"I just finished grading all the papers, so I should be able to go with you. Do you guys have any idea where the others are?" Everyone looked at one another, before giving Jackson a collective shrug and unsure look. He promptly smacked his face with his hand.

"Well this is gonna be fun." He said sarcastically.


	10. Sitting in the square

"Have we found them yet?"

"No."

"Have we found them yet?"

"No."

"Have we found them yet?"

"For the last time n-"

"Have we found them yet?" This was Ruby's life right now. Dealing with an extremely impatient JJ that was draped dramatically over her lap and asking her this repeated question for at least five minutes straight in a shopping square. Needless to say she was getting annoyed. The two were sitting on a bench near a water fountain in the middle of the square.

Children were splashing through it and playing with eachother, much to their parents chagrin. Noah, Jackson, and Heathcliff had gone to get them all food while Ruby and JJ stayed in the square and used Ruby's laptop to do more reaserch, although JJ was making this hard to do since they were, as stated before, draped across her lap.

"JJ. You are making it very hard to do my job. If I find something you know I'll tell you. Please get off my lap as well." Ruby said. JJ stared at her for a second, before reaching hand up and touching her nose, making a small "boop" noise.

Ruby rolled her eyes, but JJ finally decided to go do something better than bother her. Namely hopping in the water fountain and messing around. She sighed, looking back to her laptop. For a couple minutes it was like this, until she overheard a group of girls talking.

"Wow! You got your boyfriend to take you to that restaurant you wanted to go to?" One of the girls said

"Yeah! It was sooooo romantic. The head chef is such an asshole though." another girl replied.

"How so?" One of the friends asked.

"Well, one of our servers accidentally dropped our food, and when he found out, boy was he pissed! He was just yelling at the poor guy in front of the entire restaurant!"

"Really? What was the poor guys name?" The girl seemed to think for a second, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

"Julio Escala I think." It was at this point in time when Ruby chocked on her own spit. Holy CRAP what a fucking convenient coincidence. She closed her laptop, standing up and walking over to the group of girls.

"Um, excuse me, but did you say something about a man named Julio Escala?" She asked, the girls looked at her with mostly confused faces.

"Uh, yeah. But why do you want to know?" One of the girls asked suspiciously.

"Hes an old friend I would like to get back in touch with. Would you be so kind as to tell me where he was?" The girls seemed to get an immediate 'ohhhhh' face, and smiled.

"It was a restaurant over in Illinois. I can give you the directions there if you would like?"

"Please." The girl gave Ruby a paper that she had wrote directions on, and by this point JJ had noticed the interaction, and was watching curiously from their perch on the edge of the water fountain. Noah, Jackson, and Heathcliff finally appeared, holding a few to go boxes of food. JJ saw them and waved them over, gesturing to Ruby. Ruby trodded back over to the four and waved the piece of paper.

"Guess who I found?" JJ raised a brow

"Chucklefuck número cuatro?" They asked. Jackson promptly doubled over in an attempt to prevent himself from laughing. Noah gave them an offended look. Heathcliff put a hand over his mouth with a surprised look. Ruby glared slightly.

"Yes. Chucklefuck número cuatro." She said with a sigh.

"Are we ready to go? We're going to Illinois." Everyone nodded. Standing straight up and starting their treck to them van they had parked a ways away.


	11. Little bit loud

The drive to Illinois was a crazy one if everyone was honest with themselves. At one point Jackson, who was driving the car at the time, had to slam on the brakes due to a deer running across the road, causing Noah to smash his face into the seat in front of him and making JJ have a laughing fit. At one point JJ decided to be a wise guy and scream for no reason, which caused Heathcliff and Noah to scream with them, and Jackson to halt the car once again. The radio also seemed to break, and only played one station on the highest volume possible, which quickly became painful, so JJ took the entire thing apart with a flick of their hand.

Needless to say, by the time they had arrived at their destination, the group, especially Ruby, was one hundred percent done with that bullshit. Getting out of the car and stretching their legs out, they trodded over to the restaurant and entered. Unfortunately they were immediately greeted by the loud sounds of a man yelling. Collectively raising a brow at eachother, the group walked to the desk in front of them and got a seat.

The yelling finally stopped, and a grumpy man who looked to be about sixty stormed past them, fuming.

Looking to where the man had stormed from they saw a waitress who seemed to be very shaken cleaning up a spilt drink on the ground. The group sat down at their table, and JJ took another look to where the man had stormed off to.

"Wow. That guy seems like fun" They said with sarcasm dripping from every word. For a couple minutes they sat there, chatting lightly, until a waiter finally appeared. The man had dark brown hair that was tied back into a low ponytail and had light brown skin and chocolate eyes. He also seemed to be extremely jittery to be completely blunt. Sort of like a kid that was hyped up on ten bags of sugar. Glancing at his name tag, they realized that this was him.

"Hello, Im your server for today, can I take your order?" he said. They all nodded, taking a look at their menus and ordering something. He took their orders, and quickly made his way back to where he needed to be.

"That him?" Noah asked for confirmation. The adults of the group nodded.

"It looks like it. With jitters like that, theres no way it can't be." Jackson replied to him. For a minute they sat silently, that is until more yelling came from the front desk area. Boy did that guy seem to like to yell. JJ was starting to get very sick of it. Taking a look around, they spotted a small coin jar that, thankfully for JJ, had a metal ring around the top of it. Subtly looking around, they brought a hand up, seemingly to stretch. As they did this, the entire coin jar lifted off of the counter and SMASHED into his face. The man reeled backward and fell onto his butt with a bewildered look, staring at the jar that was on the ground, and clutching his now bleeding nose.

The rest of JJ's group immediately shot a look at them. JJ shrugged at them, with a poorly hidden smile. Immediately after this, Julio came jogging around the corner, orders clasped tightly in hand, looking confusedly at the man, he gave them their orders. They thanked him and took them. After they ate, Julio came back with their bill. Nodding to him they paid it. Although at the end, JJ snatched it away, and wrote something on it with a pen.

"Read it would ya?" They said, grinning at Julio. He gave them a confused look, and looked it over as the group went and waited by the van. Meanwhile, Julio read the message on the bill with increasing excitement.

'Hey NERD you wanna be back on the team?' It said, with the signature globe with lines going across is at the bottom of it. He crumpled the bill up, looking outside the window at the group. They grinned and waved at him. Julio grinned and waved back.

He rushed back to his area, quickly getting back into his casual clothes before rushing to go out the door. From the groups view of what happened, before he did so, the man, who seemed to have been the boss of the place, gripped his shoulder and started yelling at him. Julio, however, seemed to be quite done being yelled at, and whirled around, yelling something back, before wrenching himself free from the angry mans grasp and running outside to meet the group.

"Before we do anything, is this really happening, and not just some kind of hallucination?" He asked looking between the group

"Nope. Definitely not a hallucination. This is happening. Ready to kick some bad guy butt again?" Jackson replied. After he did this, a large grin almost overtook Julio's face as he rushed to give his old friends big hugs. After finishing this he turned to Noah and JJ.

"Noah? Is that you? You've gotten big since I last saw you! And who are you chica?" JJ sighed, raising their arms in a cross.

"JJ. Also not a chica. Not a boy either if your wondering. Nice try though." They said. They didn't mean to be rude, but they really hated when people misgendered them. It was unfortunately a common mistake they had to correct.

Julio made a slight "Oooooohhhh" noise before apologizing. JJ waved it off and simply told him that he wasn't the first, and definitely wouldn't be the last.

"So where we going next guys?" Heathcliff asked. The rest of the group shrugged at him and looked at eachother.

"Probably to a hotel until we find any leads for now." Ruby replied. They nodded to eachother and off they went. More adventures. Yay. Although JJ would much rather have them all together already.


	12. Truth coming out

Finding a hotel to stay at was luckily very easy. There were at LEAST four on one of the blocks. They all lamented on this for a minute before booking three rooms for them. At the moment Heathcliff and JJ were in the lobby sitting on one of the long sofas and staring into one of the fish tanks. JJ seemed to remember something, and turned to Heathcliff.

"Hey, Heathcliff, can I ask ya something?" Heathcliff turned to them, raising a curious eyebrow.

"Yeah sure! Hit me with it!"

"Well, its a weird question, but back when we were going to get you, Ruby mentioned something about her hoping you didn't change your name again. Did you used to change your name a lot or something?"

Heathcliff seemed to flinch quite a bit at that.

"Ah, hahaha. Yeah. Um, thats kind of a long story." He rubbed the back of his head with a nervous look. JJ raised a brow and placed their head in their hand.

"We have tons of time." Heathcliff sighed, running a hand back through his hair.

"Well, in wouldn't want you to think bad of me because of the things I did in the past. I've changed a lot since then." JJ frowned at this. Was what happened that bad?

"Well, if you've changed since then, I'm not sure why it would matter if you told me." Heathcliff was quiet for a minute. Weighting his options, he sighed."

"Alright. Sit back because this is a long one." After saying that, he shot right into his story. Relaying his memories of when he went rouge, getting pushed off that cliff by Ruby, leading an army of squirrels, getting his teeth knocked out, getting turned in to the mental hospital, becoming a giant head with infinite knowledge, waking up with no memories, leading an army of superpowered children to fight four superpowered giants, making his family remember him again. Pretty much everything he could remember that lead to the constant name changing. JJ listened to him with an unreadable expression on their face.

Once Heathcliff was finally done explaining he looked at JJ with a nervous look on his face. He had no idea what they were thinking. For a minute JJ was quiet, processing the information that he relayed to them. Until they finally spoke.

"Well damn. That really was a heck of a ride wasn't it? To be honest, I'm not all too sure what to say. You really do seem like you've changed a lot, and in my humble opinion, the past doesn't affect who you are in the present. Yeah, you did a lot of bad things back then because you were hurting. But just because you did those things in the past, doesn't mean thats who you are today. Honestly, you seem like the exact opposite! I mean, your a doctor aren't you? Your helping people instead of hurting them now right?"

For a moment Heathcliff looked at them. He finally let out a breath he had no idea that he had been holding, before patting them on the shoulder a couple times.

"Good to know you think so. Anyway, its getting late. We should head back to the group now." JJ looked over at the clock and hot diggity shit. It really did get late. The two of them tracked back to their group and got some research in before they all went to their separate rooms to sleep.

It was two days of reaserch, but they finally found something that they could go off of. Heathcliff had found an online advertisement for a car and electronic repair shop, and wouldn't you know it, they had a list of names of the people who worked there. Including one name that they all recognised. Duncan Dewey. Collectively, the group looked at eachother and nodded. It was a pain in the ass, both literally and figuratively to find a lead, but they finally had. Now all they had to do was get him.


	13. Fixer upper

Unfortunately for the group, Heathcliff had failed to look up exactly where the place they were going was. Due to this the car ride was a very frustrating one for mostly everyone involved. They had to stop at a library and look it up halfway into the drive. Also unfortunately, was the fact that they had apparently been driving the exact way that they SHOULDN'T be. So yes, while the car ride was mostly fine other than that, it was still a very frustrating ride.

At some point during the ride, they had stopped to get some food and they were sitting around one of the tables. JJ seemed to notice that the entire ride, Julio had been very excited and impatient. They decided to ask why.

"Hey. Julio, dude. You've been bouncing off the walls this entire ride. Any reason why?" Julio looked semi surprised at this question, before smiling slightly.

"Well, you see, Duncan was my best friend back when we were agents. Practically family to be quite honest. I just can't wait to see him after this long." He said. The rest of the group nodded.

"He was definitely really close with him." Ruby put in. JJ nodded at the answers, accepting it. Soon enough they were back on the road with not much farther to go. They finally seemed to have gotten to where they were going. It was a fairly large place that had some people occasionally enter and exit. Getting out of the car and stretching out their limbs, they entered the place. To the side of them, there was the front desk that currently had a older woman sitting at it. The group walked to her.

"Hello? Miss?" Jackson asked, the woman gave the group a smile.

"Why hello! What's broken, and have you booked an appointment?" Ruby gave a nervous look at her.

"Well, no, but we heard a friend was working here, and we just wanted to see him. His names Duncan Dewey?" the woman frowned for a second, giving them a sympathetic look.

"Oh, well I'm sorry, if you don't have something that needs to be fixed, we can't help you with that." JJ groaned for a second before taking their phone out of their pocket.

They placed the phone down on the counter, and as they did, the entire phone came apart. Every single piece of it scattered across the counters surface. The woman gave the phone a extremely bewildered look and the rest of the group became tense.

"Is that broken enough to book an appointment?" The woman nodded, seemingly still bewildered, before picking up a neaby phone, pressing a number, and saying a couple things into it. She nodded before pointing over to a hallway near the end of the room.

"Last door on the right."

Jogging over to it, the group entered the room, inside was a young man who grinned and waved at them. He was very short, and slightly pudgy. He had very short black hair, brown eyes, and dark skin. He looked like a very happy person in JJ's opinion. Julio immediately lit up like a Christmas tree, running over to him, and picking him straight up off the ground in a hug.

"Duncan!! Mi amigo! Its been so long!" Duncan had a very confused look on his face, but gave Julio a couple pats.

"Do I know you?" Julio gave Duncan a somewhat laughing smile.

"What? You don't recognize your best friend? Its me! Julio!" He said. As soon as he did this, Duncan's eyes widened before his face nearly split in half with a grin.

"Julio!? Is that really you? Then if its you, are they?" He pointed to the rest of the group. Julio nodded.

"Yup! Everyone but Matilda is here!" Duncan laughed.

"Why are all of you here anyway?" He asked confusedly. The group looked at JJ expectantly. They nodded and stepped forward.

"Well, as you probably know by now, a villain by the name of " The Judge" has been going around and taking over towns and stuff. A real nasty guy. Well, a little while back, when he was just starting his takeovers, he happened to come to my town. I saw him, but was able to go take cover in a school. Long story short that was the school you guys went to, I accidentally dropped into the playground, which wasn't destroyed by the way, and now I'm looking to get the NERDS back together to take down this evil motherfucker. You in?"

Duncan took in this info, and nodded.

"Definitely. Although shouldn't I fix that phone first?" He said, gesturing to the pieces of the phone in JJ's hand. They waved him off.

"Dont bother. I got this." Concentrating, the pieces of the phone lifted up and swirled around, clicking back together with ease. Soon enough, the phone was completely fixed and sitting in JJ's hand. Duncan stared.

"Well. Thats one way to get it done I suppose." He said. Everyone laughed with him.


	14. Wrestling with sleep

Ruby was currently more than 1000% done. At the moment she and Julio were trying desperately to separate Noah and JJ, who had both decided it was a good idea to have a wrestling match after seeing an episode of it on TV. They quite nearly knocked over a lamp in the room while rolling around trying to get the upper hand.

"JJ, Noah, NO. Stop horsing around before you break something!" Ruby cried out frustratedly. She grabbed her little brother under his armpits and lifted him up off the ground, placing him away from JJ, who frowned.

"Aw, you guys are no fun." Julio shook his head.

"If stopping you from hurting yourselves makes us no fun then I guess thats true then." He said. JJ replied with a small pout.

A couple seconds later, there was a knock at the door. Looking over Ruby called out.

"Yes? Who is it?"

"Jackson. You guys coming down to dinner or what?" Jackson's voice called back. Ruby straightened up and quickly went to open the door.

"Yeah, sorry, I was just breaking up a fight between those two monkeys." She said, gesturing towards JJ and Noah. Jackson chuckled a bit, nodding.

"Well let's go then." He grabbed Rubys hand and started leading her down the hallway of the hotel, gesturing to the other three to follow.

JJ wiggled their eyebrows at Noah and Julio, who choked back a laughing fit. They quickly traversed down into the lobby that had a side area for dining. They all took some things they wanted from the different things set out for the people staying at the hotel. They all sat together at a long table and chatted away for a good two hours or so.

"So why were JJ and Noah fighting again?" Duncan asked.

"We saw a wrestling show on TV and we wanted to do it ourselves!" JJ replied jubilantly. Ruby shook her head with a slightly amused look, ruffling the twos hair, which JJ hissed at while Noah giggled.

Eventually the group seperated, saying goodnight before going to their separate rooms. JJ and Noah jogged into theirs, which was next to Ruby and Jackson's room just in case they needed them. Plopping down onto their respective beds, JJ reached their hand up and turned on the TV, lowering the volume. For a while they watched more wrestling matches together before Noah eventually succumbed to his exhaustion and fell asleep. JJ however, continued watching well into the night.

It was starting to become very close to two o clock, and JJ was starting to become very sleepy. They convinced themselves to watch a little bit more however. They did for a bit before suddenly they jerked completely awake. On the TV was a very short woman, probably even shorter than Duncan. She had a black hair that was cut into a buzz cut. She was absolutely and totally RIPPED. She might have been small, but it was apparent that she had a fierce personality depending on how she looked. Those things were not the things that stood out to them the most however.

What stood out to her, was what the announcer said her name was. Her name, was Matilda Choi. JJ grinned. How absolutely fucking lucky they were. They quickly jumped off their bed, picking Noah up by the shoulders and shaking him harshly.

"Noah! Noah, dude! Wake up! I found her!" JJ cried excitedly. Noah woke up groggily. JJ took no time in pointing out the TV, in which she was currently fighting another very, very tiny guy who apparently went by the nickname of The Stud. After pointing it out, JJ quickly rushed out of the room and over to Ruby and Jackson's, using their upgrades to open the door with no problem. They quickly rushed inside, using the metal springs inside their beds to levitate them slightly and fling them to the floor, were they quickly woke up.

By this point Noah had rushed down to the others rooms to inform them.

"JJ? What the heck?!" Jackson said, groggy and bewildered. JJ quickly explained to them, waving their arms animatedly. The three quickly went over to JJ and Noah's room to take a look. Noah, along with Duncan, Julio, and Heathcliff. They all looked at the TV were the episode was playing out. The adults in the room collectively looked at eachother.

"Of course she would be a professional wrestler. I'm not even surprised." Duncan said. The others nodded while Noah and JJ looked confused. They decided to go to sleep again before going to the venue. It was nearly two o clock in the morning after all.


	15. The last member

The car ride was unfortunately a pain in the ass for everyone involved, quite literally. The ring that Matilda was fighting in was unfortunately all the way over in Houston Texas. They were all the way up in Minnesota when they found out where she was, and the drive down there was a long one. It did not help in the slightest that JJ was being extremely impatient and whined nearly the entire time. Whether they were actually impatient or if they were doing it just to be annoying is unclear. Once they had finally gotten to Houston and booked a hotel they needed to sit down and actually book a couple tickets to a match that unfortunately wasn't going to happen until two weeks later.

The group spent this time catching up and keeping track on The Judge, who had taken over four more towns by then unfortunately. When the day finally came for them all to go and get Matilda they all loaded into the van and drove to the location. To say that this place was crowded would be an understatement. It was loud and people milled around quickly. Noah stayed very close to Ruby and looked very nervous. After turning in their tickets they entered the main area and sat down in their respective seats, waiting for a little more than thirty minutes for the match to start.

Once the match had started most of the group had started getting extremely hyped up and were cheering for their friend in the ring. The opponents never stood a chance to say in the least. It was about two and a half hours before all the matches ended and everyone started leaving. It was pretty short in JJ's opinion. They quickly hopped up once they were clear and rushed over to where Matilda seemed to be giving autographs to people. Thinking for a moment, JJ pulled out a piece of paper, drawing the NERDS logo on the front with a little message on the bottom telling her where they were parked.

A couple minutes later JJ was able to get to her and hand her the paper. She was going to sign it before she actually took a good look at it and suddenly jerking up. Her gaze flipped up to JJ, who was giving her finger guns as they backed away through the circle of people waiting for autographs. They quickly went to find their group, getting lost a good few times in the process, but made their way to them and waited at the van. A little while later they heard someone calling them.

"Hey! Guys, holy shit is that you?!?" The group turned to see the small woman sprinting over to them.

"Yeah! Its great to see you after such a long time!" Duncan said. Matilda seemed to scan him for a second before a wide grin split her face.

"Duncan!" She promptly launched herself at him and picked him clear off the ground with ease. For the next half hour the group spent their time greeting eachother and explaining things.

"So we have everyone now. Thats good! We can get back to my base now!" JJ exclaimed happily. The rest of the group looked at them.

"I guess so! Can't wait to see the old playground again!" Heathcliff said. The rest of the group nodded in agreement. In the next couple minutes, they were off.


	16. Nostalgic interlude

At the moment it was very late. They had spent the entire rest of the day after they got Matilda driving. Most of them were very tired, and JJ and Noah were already dead asleep. They pulled into a big hotel and Heathcliff went in to book rooms for them while they stretched and got Noah and JJ out of the car. Ruby gently picked up her little brother without waking him while Jackson took JJ. They all went in together and took JJ and Noah to their room before Julio pointed out that there was a Wii with games and a TV over in a side area. They all agreed to play a little before hitting the hay.

For a while they stayed like that. Laughing and playfully nudging eachother when one of the others beat them in a game. It was nostalgic for them. For a second Ruby stopped and drew the others attention.

"Wow. Its...been a long time since we did this type of thing together, huh?" She said. The others nodded, seemingly thinking on it.

"God, yeah. It has been hasn't it?" Jackson said.

"Quite literally thirteen years. Wow. It honestly doesn't seem like its been all that long to be completely honest." Duncan replied.

The rest of the group fell silent in thought.

"Ya know, I never actually thought that I would ever be able to be a part of this again." Heathcliff said quietly.

"I doubt any of us did. It always seemed like an impossibility to me. Even if I hoped it wasn't." Flinch replied, placing his head in his hands in a thoughtful position.

"We were just a bunch of kids doing our best to save the world. Years after the NERDS got shut down we're doing it again. Or, trying to do it again." Matilda butted in. For a little bit, it was quiet again. The group thinking back on everything that they had done years before.

"I missed this." Julio said after a while. The others smiled slightly and nodded.

"Yeah. Its really good to see you all after such a long time." Heathcliff said.

"I mean, we were so used to our boring lives without all the cool saving the world stuff but suddenly woop! Looks like you get to do it again!" He threw his arms up dramatically at the woop. Ruby started giggling. Soon enough the others started following. Within a minute the entire group were gasping and wheezing for breath as they laughed jubilantly. It took a while for all the laughing to die down, eventually slowing to a stop, but leaving them all smiling.

"God it feels like we never even left the NERDS." Jackson said with a sigh.

"Gotta agree with you on that one bud. It really doesn't." Matilda replied.

"I'm just happy we all get to be back together like this. We're gonna need eachother to be able to do this. I highly doubt that most of us have been keeping in practice all these years." Ruby said, thinking for a moment. The others looked at one another, grimacing and realizing that, no, they hadn't been keeping in practice all this time.

"Well, guess that just means we're gonna need the old training room ay?" Duncan said, grinning. The others nodded. For a little while they continued to chat and catch up until they all agreed that they were going to need some sleep and headed off to their respective rooms. Tomorrow was going to be an eventful day.


	17. Playground sweet playground

As the group grew closer and closer to their destination, JJ was beginning to become both extremely excited and nervous at the same time. They were almost jumping up and down. They stopped for a second before calling to Ruby, who was driving.

"Hey, Ruby? There might be a problem here." Ruby turned to them and raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?" JJ shifted nervously, looking out the window and looking around the road they were driving on.

"Well, there are usually goons walking around and patroling the areas around the town. We might draw attention if we stay in the car." The groups eyes widened.

"Crap. Your right. In that case we'll need to park it somewhere safe and go from there." Ruby said. The others nodded and they continued driving down the road until JJ made it clear that they were getting close.

They parked the car a ways away and jumped out. JJ put their arms out, halting the group from going too far into the town.

"Alright, so, if I'm correct, there should be a somewhat clear path to the school. I mapped out a good amount of routes that the goons follow before, and we should have about thirty minutes before they enter our path. But keep in mind I didn't mark all of them, so there might be paths unaccounted for. So we need to move quickly and quietly just in case." Everyone agreed with this, and continued on as such. A couple minutes in, they heard voices. Quickly, dived behind a corner, peeking out. There was a group of five goons marching down the street, and they were quickly approaching. JJ flitted their gaze around, looking for a hiding place or something of the sort. They contemplated running back to a different street, but by then the goons would probably have seen them, and then it would be a mess anyway.

"Sooo, uhhhh, anyway we do this is gonna be a mess, soooo, anyone wanna bust some heads?" JJ asked apprehensively. Matilda immediately got an intimidating grin on her face and cracked her knuckles.

"I have no problem with that." she said. The others shook their heads.

"You haven't changed Matilda. You haven't changed." Duncan said with a smile. The others looked at each other and nodded.

"We might be a little out of practice, but I think we can do it. Anyone else?" Jackson said. The others nodded and stood up. JJ motioned for Noah to stay there however. He nodded, knowing full well there was no way he could take down a man who was easily three times his size.

They all waited until the goons were just close enough to their corner before they rushed them. Ruby slid around the corner and immediately delivered a strong punch to one of the goons throats. The other goons only had seconds to react before the others jumped out. Jackson had rugby tackled one of them while Matilda delivered a good few punches into anothers solar plexus. JJ snuck up behind one and jumped up onto his back with a battlecry and putting their hands over his eyes so he couldn't see. Julio and Duncan worked together to grab one of the goons and slammed him into a wall, rendering him unconscious. Kicking one of the goons legs out from under him, Ruby pressed down onto a pressure point in his neck and he fainted.

JJ was still lached firmly onto a goons back as he flailed and grasped at them in a failed attempt to get them off. After a couple seconds of this he tipped over and fell back onto them, eliciting a cry of pain. JJ growled, reaching out a hand to a nearby trashcan. It lifted off the ground, and as the goon got up to turn on JJ it flew straight into his face, knocking him backwards. They continued to slam the trashcan onto his head until he seemed sufficiently unconscious. The two remaining goons attempted to flee, but Heathcliff was already delivering quick kicks to the backs of their legs, causing them to fold like lawn chairs. After that Matilda and Jackson quickly dispatched them and the group wooped and congratulated eachother.

"Not all that rusty after all ey?" Duncan said with a laugh. The group grinned and continued on. Luckily no more events like that happened, and JJ took a mental note of the extra patrol. Soon enough the base/school came into view. As it did, everyone's mouth dropped. (excluding JJ and Noah of course.) Around the school was a tall wall of mish mashed metal slabs and screws and bolts. Duncan and Heathcliff both ran up to inspect it. Duncan knocked on it and Heathcliff ran his hands along the edges. They were surprised to find that it seemmed extremely sturdy. JJ walked up behind them and grinned proudly.

"This was a real pain in the ass to make happen. I had to go all over the place and rip metal stuff off of stuff. Luckily I had something to ride on most of the time." Jackson looked at them curiously.

"What were you riding in? JJ giggled excitedly.

" You'll see. Come on!"

JJ gestured to the large medieval style door and flicked their hand down. Seconds later it came crashing down. The group jumped and JJ flinched.

"Sorry, I'm not the best at controlling really big things like that." They said with an apologetic look on their face, rubbing the back of their head. The others waved it off. Opting to go inside the walls and enter the building instead. The inside of the school had been renovated quite considerably. All the lockers but the ones that JJ had found to be enterences to the playground. The rooms had been stripped of most of their content, at least metal wise. There was one room that held various weapons, such as guns, knives, staffs, bows, and the like. JJ explained that they got this stuff from weapon stores around the the town when the group got confused.

Walking down the hall, they came to another room that held all the gadgets that were previously in the playground. Suddenly Duncan seemed to see something and he rushed over to it, snatching it up.

"Benjamin!!!" He cried. The other adults came to his side immediately as he said this, taking a look at the unmistakable metal ball in his hand.

"Holy crap! It really is Benjamin!" Julio said. JJ looked at them, confused.

"Benjamin? Is that what its called? I tried to fix it, but I'm not really familiar with that stuff. There's a lot of broken wires and chips and stuff." They gestured their hands a little, and the ball split, showing the group the broken parts inside. Duncan looked it over for a minute before nodding.

"It might take a while, but I'm pretty sure I can fix this." JJ clapped their hands.

"Awesome! Now that that's out of the way, shall we continue?" they said, gesturing to the hall.

Nodding, everyone followed them back out and continued them back out to continue the tour. JJ walked them around for a little while longer, showing them what they had changed and things like that. When they finally finished showing the upper floor, it was time to head to the playground. The group filed into their respective lockers, although not before stopping to let the nostalgia hit them as they did. Soon enough they were flying through tubes and tunnels, ups and downs, lefts and rights, until they suddenly stopped as a wind caught them from their free fall and plopped them onto a pile of blankets, cushions, pillows, and the like. They looked at them confusedly, looking to JJ for explanation. They shrugged.

"I didn't want a repeat of the painful drop when I first got here. So I put those down to make sure it didn't happen again. I was just too lazy to move them even when I fixed the fan. Its more fun that way anyway. So whatever."

All of the adults looked around the playground as a wave of memories and nostalgia flooded into them. They all went and looked the place over, looking into the computer as well as many of the things that JJ had previously fixed and moved. They did this well into the night, talking and pointing things out and such. JJ quickly offered to make some rooms for them out of the rooms upstairs. The group agreed, and JJ went to work, making them in almost less than an hour. Thoroughly exhausted they headed all headed to sleep. Before she left, Ruby turned to JJ.

"Where are you sleeping anyway?" She asked.

"Right over there actually." They gestured to the corner of the room as they said this. In the corner was an large fluffy thing that looked extremely similar to a beanbag, although it was clearly not. It was a burnt orangy color, with a blanket of a little darker color. Ruby nodded and exited the playground, seemingly satisfied. JJ yawned. Plodding over to the beanbag bed type thing, they plopped onto it and fell asleep quickly


	18. Upgraded again

It had always been a saying in Ruby's family that in order to be in it you had to have an appetite for chaos. Luckily she was used to it, but this was different. Much, Much different. And she didn't think she was awake enough for this yet. Ruby had woken up fairly normally, and had gone to go get food from the cafeteria. However as she got closer she heard unmistakable screams and the like. She had quickly rushed down the hall and slammed open the double doors to find absolute chaos. The fire detectors were going off and the sprinklers were raining down due to a large fire that was in the stove. JJ was pressed against the wall opposite to it and making very loud sounds that closely resembled that of a fire truck.

Noah was in the corner curled up in a ball and crying silently. Jackson was attempting to put the flames out by fanning a towel at it, but unfortunately it only made it worse, as well as caught the towel on fire. He tossed it to Julio who was standing nearby and he immediately screamed as it caught the edge of his shirt on fire and he dropped it, flailing his arm furiously. Heathcliff was passed out on the floor and Matilda was shaking him hard, trying to get him to wake uo while Duncan discouraged her. Ruby fiercely considered going back to bed at the moment, but she sighed and

to help. She quickly went to the sink, getting a cup of water and using it to splash on Heathcliff to make him wake up. After that she went into the hall, grabbing a fire extinguisher and walking back in. After spraying Julio's arm, she went to the oven and sprayed that as well, quickly putting out the fire.

After that she slapped a hand over JJ's mouth, immediately quieting the siren noises that were coming out of their mouth. After that she decided to take a look at what had caused the fire to start. Inside the oven were what looked to be eight almost void black circles that were likely English muffins before they had been desecrated. JJ gave her a sheepish look.

"I tried to make breakfast." They said, gesturing to the quite nearly vantablack objects. Ruby gave them a incredulous look.

"You made these?" She tapped one on the counter in front of her. It made a loud thunking sound that was admittedly not supposed to be heard from English muffins. She looked at it for a second before reeling her arm back and throwing it at the wall. When it hit the wall immediately made a loud CRACK sound as it broke and gave way to the object. For a second everyone was completely quiet.

Julio walked up to the two of them.

"I think I should probably take on cooking from here." Simultaneously, everyone nodded. In a couple minutes they had breakfast with them. Luckily no more incidents had happened. After they had finished eating Matilda made something known.

"So, if we're back on the NERDS again, shouldn't we get our upgrades reinstalled?" She inquired. They all looked at eachother, grinned, and nodded.

"Let's do it." Jackson said. Heathcliff paused them.

"We'll need to reprogram the upgrade room first though. We all know it doesn't give adults upgrades." He pointed out. Duncan smiled.

"That shouldn't be much of a problem. We could probably do it in an hour." The group agreed, and Duncan and Heathcliff quickly went down to the playground to work on it. Like they said, it didn't take all that long. Within the hour the upgrade room was updated and fixed. Soon enough the adults were standing in front of the door to the upgrade room while JJ and Noah stood nearby.

Heathcliff paused before trotting over and standing next to them. The kids gave him questioning looks.

"Aren't you gonna go get your upgrades?" JJ asked. Heathcliff shook his head.

"I doubt that being able to have my parents remember me would exactly be a practical upgrade. Really useless actually." They shrugged. Accepting the answer. Meanwhile, one by one the others entered the upgrade room. After a while all of them came out, fully upgraded once again after so many years. JJ jumped up and down excitedly.

"Okay okay okay. You gotta show us what you can do!" They cried. Noah had a similar excited look on his face.

"Yeah! Show us!" The others looked at eachother.

"I'm pretty sure a couple of us need to find our gadgets first." Matilda said. The kids made a "ohhhh" noise, and everyone but Heathcliff, Duncan, and Ruby went to go get them.

Duncan was first to test out his upgrades. He extended his arms, and a large grin went across his face as a layer of sticky film began to appear on it. Turning to a wall, he sprinted full speed at it, and ran up it easily once he got there. Climbing up to the ceiling, he let himself hang there as JJ and Noah clapped and squealed excitedly. Throwing a hand out, a burst of the glue came from his hands and splatted against the other wall. Walking back down the wall to the ground he laughed.

"Wow! It feels great to do that again!" He said. Next in the order was Ruby.

"Alright JJ. I'm gonna ask you to come at me OK?" JJ stiffened a little.

"Are you sure? I don't wanna hurt you." They said back. Ruby shook her head.

"If my upgrades are working right, then you definitely won't." JJ nodded slightly and rushed her, attempting a ball kick to her stomach.

Ruby dodged nimbly out of the way of the kick. Keeping their leg out, JJ spun around, trying to catch her off guard, but Ruby jumped back out of the way, once again causing the attack to miss. JJ got up close and sent a couple punches at her throat, which she caught with her hands, pushing them backwards. JJ Let themselves drop on all fours, kicking their leg out and towards Ruby's knee. She caught the leg easily. Nodding in satisfaction she let go of JJ's leg and helped them up. Heathcliff clapped a little from the sidelines.

"My upgrades all seem to be in working order. Also, you seemed like you really knew what you were doing. You almost hit me a couple times! Where did you learn those moves?" She said. JJ let a wide grin overtake their face.

"One of my moms is a karate teacher! She shows me how to do all sorts of awesome stuff!" They replied, puffing up their chest proudly. Ruby made a small o with her mouth, and nodded in understanding.

"That makes sense." She said.

A couple minutes later, the others entered the room. Matilda was holding two red inhalers in her hands, Julio was wearing a harness that seemed to cover most of his body, and Jackson was wearing what looked to be some kind of metal vest or chest plate of some kind around his chest.

"Got our stuff! If it works or not isn't clear though." Jackson said, walking up to them with the others.

"only one way to find out, right?" Matilda said, grinning. She immediately rushed a couple feet away, and pushed down on the plungers of the inhalers. Immediately plumes of flame came out of the inhalers, propelling Matilda into the air. She wobbled slightly as she attempted to get used to the controls again. Soon enough she was buzzing in circles around the room, laughing all the while. Eventually she set herself down in front of the group as they clapped, and Noah and JJ jumped up and down happily.

Next to show off was Julio. Reaching to a knob on the center of his harness, he clicked it to one side a couple times. He started shivering and yelled

"I am mighty!" With a wide grin before sprinting a circle around the room. Papers were lifted off the ground and blew around as he went past. Quicker than a blink of an eye, he was next to Noah and JJ, picking them both up into the air easily with one hand for each. They giggled and clapped as he did so.

"Man its great to do that again!" He laughed, placing the kids back onto the ground. Going over to a group of desks, he picked them up one by one and threw them up nearly to the ceiling with ease. Catching them and putting them back down onto the floor. He flicked the switch down a couple notches and went back over to the group, gesturing for Jackson to start. Jackson nodded and stepped forward.

"I don't really know how well this is going to work. My braces got removed a long long time ago." He grimaced before shrugging.

"Eh, hope for the best I guess." He focused for a second, and soon enough, four long spiderlike legs came out of the metal vest that he was wearing, lifting him off of the ground.

"Oh. That works just as well." He said. Dropping back down to the floor, two tentacles came out, wrapping around his arms and creating large fists that he threw a couple punches with. After that he used a tentacle to pick up JJ and place them onto his shoulders. They wooped and leaned down towards Noah, tugging him up and placing him onto their shoulders. The group laughed as they goofed around a little. That is until JJ and Noah nearly fell off and Ruby stopped them. After a couple more tests with everyone Heathcliff spoke up.

"Well, everyones upgrades seem to be in working order! So thats good!" The others nodded in agreement.

"God its been so long since I actually hung off a ceiling." Duncan said. Everyone laughed. Heathcliff paused, thinking for a second.

"Hey JJ, did you get a codename when you got upgraded?" JJ thought before remembering.

"Oh yeah! I did! Its fidget." They said happily.

"Nice." Matilda said. JJ clapped their hands together.

"Alright! So now that we have our upgrades, I think its time to get down to businesses. I didn't make a plan for what we would do once we got to this point sooooo, um, any ideas?" everyone looked at them incredulously.

"You didn't make a plan."

"No."

"You seriously just got all of us together with zero idea how we were gonna beat the bad guy."

"Yeah." Ruby sighed, dragging a hand down her face.

"Well if thats the case we better start thinking."


	19. Book of confession

"Hey. Hey Ruby. Whatca doin? Ruby. Ruuuuuubbbbbyyyy." Ruby groaned, rubbing her face. She turned around, of course to JJ's face right in front of hers. They were laying out on a flat piece of metal that was floating in the air, and twirling their scrap in their fingers with a bored look. Ruby sighed.

"Trying to read." She replied. Indeed, she was currently sitting on a couch in the playground with a book in her hands. JJ groaned.

"Boooooorrrriiinnggg." Ruby pushed JJ away. For a minute they simply floated there before asking a simple question.

"So what's up with you and Jackson, huh?" Ruby, who had gone to take a sip from her coffee mug, immediately did a spit take.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean." She said. JJ raised a brow.

"I'm not a dumbass ya know. There's obviously some tension there. Is he like, your ex or something?" Ruby jerked her head at JJ.

"NO." She coughed, sighing and rubbing her face.

"It just that when we were seventeen, we had a lot of, um, feelings. And just before the thing with the FBI happened we kinda, ah, you know what? Nevermind." She suddenly seemed to take a great interest in her mug, badly concealing a blush. JJ seemed to immediately get it.

"OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!" JJ cried with a grin. Ruby shot a hand out and grabbed their mouth, glaring harshly.

"Not a single word." She hissed. JJ giggled and wiggled their eyebrows at her, but nodded. Ruby let go of their mouth and sighed.

"It was a long time ago anyway." She said, going back to her book.

JJ continued to float there on the piece of metal silently for a minute.

"Hey. Ruby. Can I ask you something?" They asked. Their voice wavered uncertainty, which was very out of character for the normally confident child. Ruby turned to them and raised a brow.

"Sure. What is it?" JJ sighed.

"Well, I just wanna know if you really wanna be here to do this. I mean, its really dangerous, and you still have a lot of probably better and less dangerous stuff to do. Its been a really long time since you did this stuff and leading a team again will probably be really stressful. I dunno. I'm probably just talking outta my ass here." JJ grimaced. Ruby paused, slightly surprised at the question. She paused for a moment before putting a bookmark in her book and closing it.

"I'm gonna be blunt with you. I don't really know in all honesty. This whole thing has been a fiasco and a half. It was years ago when I was an agent and whether I'm ready or not to deal with all of this is something I've yet to figure out."

For a second, JJ was quiet. Finally, they nodded.

"Alright. I just wanted to ask. I'm gonna ask the others too. I just don't wanna force all of you into this. This whole saving the world plan thing was just kinda a spur of the moment adrenaline type thing. I never actually thought I would be able to do this. I guess I'm just a little to proud for my own good." They laughed bitterly for a second. Ruby sighed.

"We all do that at one point or another. The important thing is that it worked. You got us all together, which was a miracle in and of itself. Whether the whole saving the world thing will work is to be seen, but at least we're still doing something." She replied, patting their shoulder. JJ smiled slightly before crisscrossing their legs across the metal stab.

"I guess that's true. Thanks. ...Soooooo, whatcha reading?" They said, peeking over Rubys shoulder at the book she had opened once again.

"Sherlock Holmes." JJ made a small o with their mouth and grinned.

"Oh! I love those books!" Ruby gave them an incredulous look.

"You don't seem like the type to like these types of books." They rolled their eyes.

"I get that a lot. But hey, I still do." Ruby shrugged, accepting the answer.

"Well you can read over my shoulder if you really want to." She said. JJ nodded, floating a little bit closer and placing their head on hers to do so. It was peaceful for a while, which was surprising to say due to fact that most of the time the group was together and doing something. It wasn't exactly unpleasant. Considering JJ's usually loud and occasionally annoying behaviour, it was a surprise to see them as calm as they were. Although calm, they also seemed a bit worried.

"Hey. What's up. You look down." Ruby said after a while. JJ jerked a bit at the question.

"Oh, its nothin. I'm fine." Ruby raised a brow.

"Obviously not. Did you forget that I'm allergic to lying?"

JJ cringed at the question.

"Oh. Yeah. Its whatever. I'm just being dramatic cause my moms aren't answering their phones. I've been texting and calling and stuff but so far, no reply. I know they probably just left their phones or chargers at home, but if they did, they definitely would have called from another phone. I just don't know. I hope their safe." Ruby seemed to think on it for a second, before patting their back.

"I would say I thought their fine, but that would just be a flat out lie. Its definitely weird, and we can only hope that thats the case." JJ nodded.

"Yeah. I guess so." They didn't seem all that comforted, but it was something. Shaking their head they pulled back from Ruby.

"I gotta go ask the other guys the question. Don't want any unwilling members am I right?" They chuckled awkwardly for a second before hopping off the piece of metal they were previously on, and swiftly exiting the area.


	20. Tvs and teasing

Luckily for JJ it didn't take long to find someone else. After a minute of searching they were able to find Jackson lounging around in the common room that JJ they had made not too long ago. They waved and called over to him.

"Hey Jackson! Sup!" They said. Jackson waved back and gestured to the TV on the other side of the room that was playing some sort of show.

"Nothing much. What about you?" JJ shrugged, trodding over and plopping themselves down next to him.

"Same. I just came around cause I really really really needed to ask you something." Jackson raised a brow.

"Shoot kid." JJ nodded.

"I mean, I don't know if its a stupid question to ask or not, but do you really wanna be here? I mean, don't you have a lot of other things you need to do? And I can't guarantee that we're gonna be able to win this fight. Like, yeah, if we don't do this, this dude is probably gonna take over the world anyway, so there's that, but you would probably still have a chance at living if he caught you. But if he knows you're one of the guys fighting him, he might not be all that "merciful" to you. Not like he's merciful towards anyone else though."

Jackson seemed a bit confused at the question.

"Well, I mean, yeah, that's true, but I'm still pretty happy to be here. Sure some stuff might go down, but in all honesty I'm actually kinda excited to do this stuff again. Its been a long time, but I can't say I'm not excited to be here." JJ grinned, nodding. They turned to the TV that was still playing, leaning back into the couch and kicking their feet up onto the coffee table that had been placed there. For a little bit they stayed and watched the pictures move across the and at one point went and grabbed two small chip bags. Suddenly JJ got a small smirk on their face, and without turning to Jackson, said

"Sooooo, you and Ruby used to be a thing?" Jackson immediately choked, and sputtered for a second.

"What makes you think that?"

JJ giggled slightly in a mischievous way.

"Oh nothing. Ruby just let a little info slip." They said, wiggling their eyebrows at him. Jackson cringed a bit, and ran his fingers back through his hair.

"Yeah, that was a long time ago though. Like, a very long time. Should kids like you be knowing about this type of stuff anyway?" JJ raised a brow.

"I'm twelve. Yeah I know about this stuff." Jackson gave them an incredulous look.

"Twelve??? You look ten at most." If glares were physical forces, there is no doubt that Jackson would have been wiped off the face of the earth.

"Yeah I'm short. What of it motherfucker?" They said, voice dripping with venomous malice that, arguably, shouldn't be able to be used by a child. Jackson cringed backwards at the tone and laughed nervously.

"I mean, its not all that much of a bad thing. At least you can actually fit in the entrance lockers without having to squeeze in." He said. JJ thought for a second before nodding.

"Yeah that's true I guess. Still. Make another comment on my height and I'm slicing you in half." They threatened. Jackson nodded.

"Duly noted." He said. JJ shook their head.

"Hey. By the way, I was just kinda curious, and I wanted to ask, did any of your parents ever find out about your lives as spies?" They asked with a curious glint in their eyes. Jackson nodded.

"Not a lot of us, but yeah, Duncan's parents, Matildas parents, and my dad and brother knew about it. As far as I know, Duncan's family always knew. Matildas and mine found out a little later. Although I only revealed it since I kinda had too." JJ grinned.

"Do tell." They said. Jackson shrugged.

"Well, a long while back, when I basically just started, there was a whole entire thing that we don't really need to go into that involved an ex assassin that, not gonna lie, I had my first kiss with as well as had a giant crush on for a while, messing up a lot of missions because I was an arrogant dick, getting kicked off the team temporarily for those reasons, and having to go off with that assassin to save said team from an evil dude that just so happened to be led by one of our teammates-" JJ cut him off at this.

"You mean Heathcliff." Jackson completely froze.

"Uhhh, yeah. Where'd you find that out?" He asked, slightly nervous.

"I just kinda got a context clue from Ruby before asking him about it. He told me pretty much everything. I don't really care though. He's a cool guy now." Jackson let out a small sigh of relief.

"Yeah, alright. Anyway, long story short, I came in a rocket to tell my dad that the earlier breakdown with the things about being a spy wasn't actually a breakdown and that I would be late for supper. So there's that story. I'll probably tell you more when I feel like it." JJ laughed.

"Yeah! You better." They said. They stretched for a second.

"Alright. Its been fun but I have more people to ask stuff. I'm pretty sure I know where a few of them are though." They said, hopping off of the couch. They went to the door, waving to Jackson as they left.


	21. Floating buddy ball

JJ jogged down the corridors of the school turned base down into the hall that housed the playground enterences. Opening one of the lockers and sliding into it easily, they shut the door behind them and soon enough, the floor dropped out under them and they fell through the tunnel. After a good amount of flip flopping all over the place, a wind stopped their fall and placed them gently onto the ground. They glanced around for a second, and sure enough, there was Duncan. He was sitting at one of the desks at the side of the room and fiddling around with "Benjamin" as it had been called. He saw them drop down into the playground, and waved them over excitedly.

"JJ! Come here for a second!" He called. JJ walked briskly over to his side and took a look at the metal ball in his hands.

"Hey Duncan. Sup." Duncan had a wide grin stretched across his face. For a second he screwed one last bolt into place onto the little thing, before placing it on the desk, looking very proud of himself.

"So, I haven't actually told you all that much about Benjamin have I?" JJ shook their head.

"Uhhh, no. I don't think so. You only said something about it being a robot." Duncan nodded.

"Yes. Well, not just a robot. An AI. A supercomputer of sorts. When we had to destroy the playground, we had to leave pretty much everything here. It wasn't something where we could pick up everything we needed to and move it to a new base. The FBI had found out more or less everything. All our bases and everything was compromised and had to be destroyed. Benjamin unfortunately along with it. Benjamin was an amazing AI. He actually went home with me most of the time. We were all sad that he had to go. But I'm not going to waste time talking about him. I think it would be better if he did the talking for me."

With those words, he lifted the ball up, pressing a button on the side of it. For a second, nothing happened. Duncan cringed, thinking that maybe he had gotten something wrong, but not a moment later, blue lights flickered on in the ball, and it floated above his hand. Duncan wooped loudly in joy.

"Benjamin! Welcome back!" Benjamin floated a circle around Duncan.

"Duncan? What happened? I thought that the playground, as well as I were destroyed? My scans are showing that it has been aproximately thirteen years since I was last turned on." JJ reeled back.

"Holy crap it can talk!" They yelled. Benjamin turned to the child, flitting around their head.

"And who are you? If my scans are correct, you seem to have nano technology inside of you." JJ gave the floating ball an curious, but excited look.

"JJ! They them pronouns by the way. And yeah, I got the upgrades. And you're a robot? Or, AI. Whatever the heck they call you." Benjamin settled for hovering lightly over Duncan's shoulder.

"Why yes. Yes I am. It is a pleasure to meet you JJ, my name is Benjamin. It would be greatly appreciated if you could explain to me how we are here in this arguably not destroyed playground." JJ nodded to Duncan.

"Well its kinda a long story." They both said.

"I'm sure we have time to explain." He said back. Duncan and JJ looked at eachother before JJ shrugged.

"Sure, why not." They said. For the next couple minutes they proceeded to explain the situation to Benjamin, who luckily could go online to connect any missing dots himself.

"Well this is certainly a situation. I will do my best to help." JJ clapped.

"Awesome! But other than that, I came down here to ask you a question, Duncan."

"Shoot." He said.

"Alright. My question is if you want to be here. I know its probably a stupid question, even though I'm gonna ask everyone it, but give me a straight answer. I mean, this is kinda a really dangerous thing to be doing, and you could probably die to be honest. Sooooo, yeah." Duncan raised a brow.

"I mean, yeah! Of course I do. Sure its dangerous, but I can't say I don't miss that. Yeah, being a technical engineer is a pretty awesome job, but it kinda lacks the excitement that you get with being a spy. The fact that I get to see all my friends again is a big plus too." JJ grinned and clapped their hands once.

"Great! Now I only got three more people to ask! I'm gonna go do that." They said. They walked over to the exit, and waved once before pressing the button that sent them back up to the hallway above. Hopping out of the locker, they thought for a second before remembering something and trodding over to one of the other halls. They had a good idea where one of the others might be.


	22. Punching your feels

JJ skipped lightly down the hall to the gym. They had turned it into more or less of a workout and upper training room quite easily. All they really needed to do was get some things from around town from local gyms. Easy as pie. They approached the gym, and sure enough, loud cracks and grunts were coming from there. Trodding into the room, they saw Matilda punching one of the training dummys with deadly accuracy. They stood to the side watching her for a minute as she struck the dummy with a combo of kicks and punches, but eventually broke her concentration by calling out.

"Yo! Matilda!" Matilda paused what she was doing and pivoted to see JJ standing over to the side. She grinned, waved and jogged over.

"Hey JJ. Whats up?" JJ shrugged.

"Nothing much. Just passing the time. Those are some pretty cool moves. You should fight me sometime." Matilda laughed.

"Ha! I wouldn't want to hurt you kid. No offence, but I've been in the wrestling business for years. I'm not exactly someone you want to fight."

JJ just shrugged with a nonchalant look.

"Eh. One of my moms has been teaching me martial arts more or less since I was born. I'm pretty sure I could handle myself in a fight." They said confidently. Matilda sighed, raised an eyebrow, and seemed to think for a minute. She shook her head and placed her hands on her hips.

"Know what? Alright kid. I'll give you a couple free hits and see how strong you are." She got into a ready but open stance, bracing for JJ's hits. JJ hopped up and down in delight with a grin on their face for a second before shifting into a fighting stance.

"Alrighty! Here I come!" They called before rushing forward. Coming in close, they threw a roundhouse kick into Matilda's side, before pulling it back and sending a side kick into her gut with the same leg. Matilda gasped slightly for the air that had left her lungs at the kicks.

Before she could fully get her breath back, JJ pulled their hand into a fist near their ear before sending a swift hammer strike to her temple. Matilda stumbled slightly to the side as her vision faded out for a second from the hit. JJ shot around behind her and wrapped an arm around her neck in a chokehold. Matilda at this point decided to end it there, and grabbed JJ's arms before flipping them over her shoulder and onto the ground in front of her. Both laughed as JJ hopped back onto their feet.

"Alright alright. Not too shabby! If I wasn't me, I'd probably be passed out on the ground right now! Those were some pretty solid hits right there." JJ beamed proudly.

"Heck yeah they were! My mom is pretty damn awesome for teaching me them!" Matilda got a curious look.

"So, who are your moms anyway?" She asked.

JJ paused for a second before remembering something.

"Oh! Oh! I have a couple pictures of them on my phone! Hold on one second." They reached into their pocket and pulled out said phone. For a minute they tapped away, swiping at different pictures before finding what they were looking for.

"Found em! Take a look!" They handed their phone over to Matilda and she looked at it. On the screen were two women. One of the woman was fairly slight. Her skin was a pale peachy color, mottled with many freckles that dotted across her cheeks and nose, and her eyes were a dark sea blue. She was wearing a white turtleneck sweater and a pair of black leggings on. Her platinum blonde hair was cut short and spiked slightly at the front. Her expression was very calm, a slight smile played at her lips as she looked at the woman beside her who had an arm draped around her shoulders.

The woman who had an arm on the other was very tall, taller than Jackson even, and had slightly muscular, although she had a slight bit of flab on her stomach showing through the purple short sleeved shirt with black flame marks along the bottom. Her hair was a dark, almost black, brown color. It was extremely poofy and was pulled into a high ponytail out of her face. Her skin was a chestnut brown and her eyes like chocolate. She held a confident and jubilant air around her and had a wide grin on her face, making her eyes shine and crinkle at the edges as well as making her dimples show. The two women looked happy together, and when inspected, it showed that both women had beautifully crafted wedding rings on their ring fingers. The picture was taken in front of a large wooden windmill in the middle of a large field of flowers.

After appreciating the photo, Matilda swiped to the next. This one showed the smaller woman in a karate uniform, a black belt tied tightly around her waist. Her legs were spread shoulder length apart and her hands were clasped firmly behind her. The photo seemed to be taken in front of a wall with an assortment of spears, staffs, and swords behind her. Next picture showed the taller of the two with a pair of tongs holding a piece of glowing hot metal pinched between it. The area was quite obviously a smithing area, with a furnace glowing in the background along with a few tables and cabinets. Tools were littered along the tables and hung onto walls. Swiping to the next photo, it showed both the women as well as JJ. JJ was sitting atop the tall womans shoulders, waving to the camera with one hand while the other steadied them using her mothers head and looking into the camera. The smaller woman had an arm wrapped around the tallers waist, and was looking up into her eyes, which the taller reprocrated. The group was standing in an apple orchard it seemed.

The next photo was obviously a continuation to the last, showing the taller woman leaning down to the smaller, eyes closed seemingly for a kiss. The smallers eyes were also closed and had her head tilted up to begin to meet her lips. JJ however, did not seem as enthusiastic, as their position on their mothers shoulders was slipping away as she leaned down, the look on their face comically terrified. Swiping to the next one, Matilda couldn't help but let out a loud guffaw as the picture showed JJ toppling backwards off their mothers shoulders as both women looked back in a mixture of surprise and horror as their child began their flailing decent to the ground. JJ looked at this photo with Matilda and laughed.

"Oh yeah! I remember that. What you don't see in the photo is me landing in a puddle of mud. Ha!" Matilda snorted loudly at the addition before swiping again.

There were a whole lot of photos in there. Some were of JJ's moms doing things together, some were of them playing in a park, some were of them just chilling, some were of JJ's mom teaching them martial arts. There was one thing that was similar in every picture though. They were happy. In every picture that was taken, even in the small ones where nothing much was happening, all of their eyes shone bright with happiness. Matilda smiled lightly.

"You all seem very happy." She said. JJ nodded.

"We get that a lot. You're only really getting a little bit of our lives though. Sure we're really happy in these photos, but there are a lot of times that weren't like that. The fact that my moms are a same sex and interracial couple gets a lot of ridicule and stuff because of that. There have even been some people who tried to take me away from them because of that. The fact that I don't identify with a gender also gets me pushed around a lot. People always seem to hate what they don't seem to be able to understand or if something is different from them. If you stray from what people call "normal" you're bound to run into a lot of trouble." They said.

Matilda nodded in understanding.

"Yeah. Thats one of the reasons that we NERDS became spys in the first place. We were all bullied and pushed around because we looked and acted differently than the others. Its a shitty thing that always seems to happen." She said back. JJ sighed.

"Yup. Real shitty." They said. It was quiet for a minute, both of them contemplating these things, before JJ shook their head and looked at Matilda.

"Anyway, I didn't come here just to chat. I needed to ask you something." They said. Matilda shrugged.

"Go ahead kiddo." JJ nodded.

"Alright. Its a weird question, but do you really want to be here? I'm just asking because, hey, this is a really fuckin reckless and dangerous thing we're pulling here. I want to make sure you don't want to, like, leave and actually do something thats not possibly life endangering." Matilda stared. And stared. And stared. Then a quiet snort came out of her mouth. It evolved into giggles, before going into full blown laughter. JJ looked at her, confused. Once Matilda was done with her fit, she wiped a tear from her eye and shook her head.

"Hell yeah I want to be here! Kicking bad guy ass? Saving the world on a daily basis? Flying around with my inhalers? Being with my friends who are also super spys? Thats something I've wanted to go back to more than anything for the longest time. Yeah, being a pro wrestler is awesome, but lemme tell ya, nothing beats being a super spy. Not in a million years." She said with a grin. She smacked JJ on the back reassuringly.

"Don't worry. I'm not leaving any time soon." JJ smiled and nodded.

"Awesome! Now if you don't mind, I have two more people to ask the same damn question." They said. Matilda nodded and JJ walked away, giving her finger guns and a small click of the tounge as they exited. Satisfied with the outcome of this convo, they knew exactly where one more of the NERDS would be. JJ proceeded onwards to the next of the NERDS.


	23. Candied Questions

JJ hummed lightly as they twirled down the hall towards the cafeteria. It was usually fairly boring in the base, unless it was a scouting day that is. So, usually they just had to make their own fun. Whether it be bothering one of the NERDS, playing around with their upgrades to test their limits, laying down outside and watching the clouds roll by, or playing with Noah, they would do mostly anything to busy themselves. Sliding over to the cafeteria doorway, they pushed it open and entered. Sure enough, just like they thought, there was Julio sitting down at one of the tables near the middle of the room, chewing on some sort of bar. JJ wouldn't know. Julio looked over to them when they opened the door and waved. JJ waved back jogging over to him.

"Hey Julio. What's going on?" They asked.

"Akfnndkek." Julio replied. JJ paused, staring with a raised eyebrow.

Julio reached up, turning the knob on his harness.

"Sorry. Nothing much. Geez, I haven't had something like that happen in a long while! Mostly because of the fact that I was pretty much told I had to regulate my sugar intake after everything in the playground was destroyed and I didn't have my harness anymore." JJ nodded, sliding into a seat across from him.

"That makes sense. What happened with you guys and the playground thing anyway? People keep giving me bits and pieces of what happened, but I still don't know much other than the fact that the FBI, government, whatever, had to do with it." They said. Julio sighed, running a hand down his face.

"Well, thats not wrong. It did have to do with the government. Basically what happened was this asshole named savage who was working with us at the time, decided it was a good idea to leak almost all of the information about the NERDS to the government. Now, here's the thing, that wouldn't be a problem had it not been for the fact that most of the government doesn't actually know about us. Luckily for us, no info about the members was leaked, but all info about base locations, tech, and things like that got leaked. After that, we knew that the government was gonna be coming for us, so we unfortunately had to take out our upgrades, and destroy the playground, as well as all other bases and things affiliated with the NERDS." JJ frowned.

"Wow. That savage guy was a real dickhole wasn't he?" JJ said. Julio nodded, wrapping the candy wrapper into a ball and throwing it across the room into a trashcan. JJ clapped and Julio mockingly bowed.

"He was. Not really sunshine and rainbows if you know what I mean." He said. JJ laughed.

"Yeah I get it. Did you guys have a leader or something that ordered that?" Julio grinned, nodding.

"Yeah! We were being led by a guy named brand. He was pretty cool. We had another associate named Miss. Deprankova. She was great too. Last I heard they had moved over to California." JJ smiled, before seeming to think for a moment.

"Do you think we should bring them back too?" They asked. Julio stared for a second, thinking.

"I don't know. It would be cool, but I'm not sure they would want to go back when they've finally settled down." JJ shrugged.

"Eh. It was just a thought." They said. Julio snorted.

"I can imagine they would be surprised though. Maybe you can call them at some point and give them a heart attack." JJ broke into a giggle fit and let a wide, mischievous grin go across their face.

"I might not be able to help myself." They said. Julio rolled his eyes.

"Of course you wouldn't." He answered. Reaching a hand over, he ruffled JJ's fluffy hair. JJ swatted at his hands and stuck a tounge out at him for that before crossing their arms on the table.

"So, enough bullshitery, down to the point of why I came over here in the first place. Its a weird, kinda crap question, but I wanted to ask it to everyone just in case. Do you really want to be here? I mean, its OK if you don't. You probably still have more important and less dangerous things to do there." Julio seemed to be surprised by the question. He thought for a moment, stumbling lightly over words.

"Well, I mean, thats kind of a hard question to answer. Being here is pretty much putting my life in danger, but I kinda quit my job in the heat of the moment when I came out with you guys. Its great to be here again, don't get me wrong, I get to eat as much candy as I want now at least, and seeing my friends is awesome. Its a hard feeling to explain." JJ looked at him for a little, sizing up his answer. They nodded, accepting it.

"Alright, thats fair. Thats all I really came for. Do you know where Heathcliff is?" They said. Julio shook his head.

"Nope. Haven't seen him. Sorry." JJ groaned before hopping up.

"Alrighty. Thats a pain, but whatever I guess. I'll probably find him soon enough. Maybe he'll know where Noah is too. Been looking for him all day." They pivoted on their heel, turning to the door and waving as they left.


	24. Its not rocket science

JJ ran back and forth between the multiple empty hallways, searching for Heathcliff. Sliding to a stop in one of them, they leaned their head back, groaning loudly. Leaning up against a wall, they massaged their temples.

"Alright JJ, if you we're Heathcliff where would you be?" They asked themselves quietly. Groaning, they paused. Suddenly, they got an idea. Rushing down the hallways, they quietly inched up to one of the doors. The room inside had become a sort of office slash mechanical room for building and fixing things. Peeking inside, sure enough, they saw the telltale bright orangish red hair that belonged to Heathcliff. Opening the door silently, they crept up behind him without a sound. They stood there a second, waiting. Then, with a loud yell of "Heath!!!!!" they lept up onto his back.

Heathcliff let out a loud shriek, stumbling forward a small bit at the sudden weight coming onto his back, catching himself on the table in front of him. Putting one hand over his heart and the other arm grabbing onto one of JJ's legs that had wrapped around his waist. Craning his head back to look at JJ, he gave them a slight glare.

"Holy crud JJ, what was that for?" JJ laughed, putting their head onto his shoulder to look him in the eyes.

"Because its fun and you were basically asking for it. I've been looking for you ya know." They said, grinning. Heathcliff cocked up a brow.

"Why were you looking for me?" JJ climbed further up Heathcliff's back, and with a small boost, sat atop his shoulders, putting their arms on his head.

"Its kinda a stupid question, and I've asked it to literally everyone but you." Heathcliff looked up at them curiously.

"Well let's hear it anyway." He said. JJ shrugged, nodding.

"Sooooo, um, is it alright for you to be here? You have an entire life to live ya know. You don't have to waste it on dangerous stuff like this. I mean, you could probably die doing this ya know, if anything from what I've heard from the news reports are true."

Heathcliff looked at them, slightly bewildered at the question. He paused for a moment to think.

"Well, I mean, yeah, but we did that back when we were spys anyway. Sure it's been years, but it would take a lot more to kill us than a normal person. Not to mention everyone has their upgrades now. I'm pretty sure the safety of the world outweighs any doubts that we would have. Plus, you guys probably need a medic on standby anyway." JJ looked down onto him from their perch.

"I mean, yeah, we probably will, but if you or anybody else has doubts about being here or anything, you should have the right to leave. You dont need to risk your life on something that might not even work." They said.Heathcliff stared at them for a second, before sighing and nodding.

"Alright. Its nice to know I have that choice, even if I don't plan on making good on it. You're very considerate." He said. JJ nodded, laughing a bit. Looking past Heathcliff's head down at the table in front of them, they saw what looked like a small gun in pieces on top of it. They rose a curious brow.

"So, what's that?" They asked, pointing down to it. Heathcliff looked to where they were pointing, and let a grin stretch across his face.

"Well that, my friend, is an energy blaster. Its much more efficient than a regular gun, and a good amount more painful too." JJ looked on curiously, reaching down to levitate it towards them. Heathcliff smacked their hand away with a disapproving look.

"Hey now, don't go using your upgrades willy nilly on this type of stuff. It might have a bad reaction, especially with what its made of and what parts go into it." JJ pouted, rolling their eyes.

"Well, what does it even do anyway?" They asked.

"Well, basically what it does is convert solar energy into highly concentrated blasts that could more or less burn you a good bit." Heathcliff answered. JJ made an o with their mouth and cringed a bit.

"Yeowch. Sounds painful." Heathcliff nodded. Cringing as well.

"They are. My cohorts goons had bigger more dangerous versions of these things back when I was still a bad guy. Those things could cook you better than a hot pocket." He said. Stopping, he coughed awkwardly. JJ frowned, staring at him. He seemed to have been drawn back into the memories. He was jerked from his reminiscing as JJ jumped off his shoulders, coming to stand beside him.

"What was up with that anyway? Like, yeah, I know that you were bad for a while, but I mean, why did you feel like that was a good idea? If thats even an ok question to ask. You don't need to answer if you don't want to." They said. Heathcliff looked at them, thinking for a moment. Sighing, he nodded.

"I guess it was just a lot of anger. Its no secret that all of the NERDS got bullied pretty severely when we were in school. I was just really angry, and when I saw an opportunity to change how the world worked in relation to that, I took it. No matter how many people I knew it would hurt. In the end I kinda just figured out that I didn't have anyone to blame but myself for those decisions. Funny thing is, the one who made me figure it out was me. A different version of me, but me nonetheless. Thats probably a story for another time though. After that, I recruited pretty much the entire school and led them into battle against four superpowered giants, which, again, is a story for another time." He explained. JJ looked up at him, interested.

"How did that work out? All the new recruits suddenly being added I mean." they asked. Heathcliff laughed.

"Better than would be expected. Luckily we have two very good organisers on our team. Aka Ruby and I. We actually needed to separate all the teams into different bases to make up for all the extra. It was very efficient if I do say so myself." JJ nodded, accepting the answer and letting a small snort come out their nose.

"That makes sense. Sounds fun." They said. Heathcliff laughed aloud. JJ shook their head, patting his back.

"Well, its been good talking, but I'm done asking all of you this question, and I'm gonna go do my own thing now. Any idea where Noah is?" They said. Heathcliff thought for a moment before nodding.

"I think I saw him outside in the back field." He said. JJ grinned, clapping the or hands once.

"Awesome. Thanks!" They said, hopping over to the door and sprinting out back down the hall.


	25. Calming clouds

The dry grass crunched slightly beneath JJ's shoe as they walked outside towards the back field. The field was meant for things like playing soccer and the such, so it had two goals on the sides of it. A couple flowers dotted the unkemp field. Mostly dandelions though. Looking out across it, JJ was able to spot Noah quite quickly. He was laying down on his back staring into the sky with his hands crossed on his chest and a small jacket balled up to pillow his head. JJ walked over quietly, coming to stand beside him. The two acknowledged eachother with a small nod, wordlessly. JJ sat down beside him, letting themselves fall back onto their back, looking into the sky as well. It was beginning to become night, and a soft pink and orange gradient graced the sky, dotted by fluffy white clouds.

Neither of the children spoke for a good while. They didn't need to. Wind softly breezed by, ruffling their hair slightly. JJ threaded the grass between their fingers before pulling some up and starting to tie it into knots. The light of the sky slowly began to become quickly darker and darker, the purple and black beginning to push away the remaining light on the horizon as stars began to shine through the sky. JJ turned their head slightly over to Noah, who was still watching the clouds roll leisurely across the sky.

"So, have you been able to get in touch with your mom and dad yet?" They asked softly. Noah nodded.

"Yeah. I called them a couple minutes ago and talked to them for a while. They were able to escape the state and stay with some family for the time being, until we can get this bad guy out of there." A small smile went across JJ's face, reaching over and patting his shoulder.

"That's good. Have you told them everything that's been happening?" They asked.

"I told them a kinda watered down version of it. I was able to keep the stuff about being secret agents with superpowers and whatnot out of it." He replied. JJ nodded, looking back up to the sky and sighing. Sitting back up, they reached into their pocket, pulling out their scrap metal and rubbing their thumb over it. Dropping their gaze from the sky, they looked around them at the tall walls surrounding the area. They were lucky that the only areas goons really patrolled was around the outskirts of the town. If they came in any closer, no doubt that their cover would be lost. It was good however that Noah's parents were safe, unlike how JJ was quite sure theirs were.

They prayed to every god that there might be that their parents were safe. They didn't know what they would do if they lost them. Letting these thoughts overtake their mind, JJ didn't realize that small tears were beginning to roll down their cheeks until Noah made it known.

"Oh gosh, JJ, are you OK? You're crying!" He said worriedly, sitting up and shifting closer to them and putting a hand on their shoulder. JJ jerked, reaching up their hand to feel the warm tears making tracks down their face. They wiped them off with the back of their arm and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just let myself get caught up in the what ifs I guess." They said with a frown. Noah seemed to hesitate for a few moments, before tentatively leaning forward and wrapping his arms around JJ's smaller frame, patting their back.

JJ seemed to freeze for a second, before relaxing and returning the hug. Both released the hug after a minute. Pulling away from him, JJ grinned.

"Thanks dude." Noah laughed, embarrassed.

"Haha. No problem." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. JJ smacked his back, causing the boy to tumble forward slightly. They snorted as Noah looked back at them indignantly. He turned, before launching himself forward onto JJ. The two tussled playfully, rolling across the grass. As the sky finally began to go into its final stages of its darkness, the two sat laughing on the ground. Noah looked up into the sky.

"Its getting pretty late. The guys are probably almost done with dinner by now. We should go inside." He said. JJ looked up with him before nodding.

"Yeah, probably. Wanna get inside before your sister starts nagging us ey?" JJ said with a snort. Noah giggled lightly, standing up. After hefting JJ up, the two made their way back to the school.

"Last one there is a rotten egg!" JJ yelled suddenly before sprinting ahead. "Hey! That's cheating and you know it!" Noah cried, racing after them.


	26. Home again home again

JJ shifted in their bean bag-like bed, gripping their blankets with a white knuckled grip. Someone walked up to them. The figure reached out, placing a hand on JJ's shoulder. This was a mistake on their part. Almost immediately, JJ's hand shot up, grabbing the person's wrist, pulling them down. Their other arm thrusted straight out, causing the person to stumble back, clutching their stomach. JJ had immediately jumped off the bed after, fluffy hair tangled from tossing and turning, pupils almost pinpricks. However, they immediately released their defensive stance once they realized who had woken them. Standing there clutching his stomach with a bewildered look on his face, was nonother than Jackson Jones.

"Oh fuck!!! Dude, I'm so sorry." JJ said. They spluttered out a couple more incomprehensible words, supposedly more apologies.

Jackson stood back up, rubbing the last bits of pain off of his stomach, shaking his head.

"Its fine. I'm good. Are you OK? You looked kinda distressed." JJ nodded, shaking off whatever fear had suddenly decided to take ahold of them for whatever reason.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just had a bit of a nightmare. Got a bit riled up there." They said, rubbing the back of their neck guiltily. Jackson shrugged.

"Again, its fine. You have one heck of a hard hit kiddo!" He said, reaching over and ruffling their already very messy hair. Swatting his hands away and laughing, JJ gestured over to the playgrounds exit.

"I'm gonna go do my stuff before I come join you guys. You know." Jackson nodded, and JJ made their way upstairs into the shower areas. After showering, they brushed their teeth in one of the bathrooms, as well as detangled their hair, getting it back to the usual soft fluffy state.

After that, they quickly jogged down to the cafeteria and slid into the open door. Waving to the others, they found Noah and slid into the seat right next to him.

"Hey Noah! Mornin." They greeted.

"Morning." Noah greeted back. The two talked for a bit before finishing breakfast. After that, the two decided to go back down to the playground to do more reaserch on their adversary. Dropping down onto the soft pile of things that had still not been removed, the two made their way to the front of the room where the main computer sat.

"Hello children, how are you?" A sudden voice asked. The two jerked slightly in surprise, turning to the voice. Floating just behind them was Benjamin.

"Jesus Ben! You scared the living crap out of us! Little warning next time?" JJ said, hand over their heart.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." He said apologetically. JJ shook their head.

"Yeah yeah, its fine. We need some scans on the situation with The Judge. I'm guessing he's taken over Virginia in its entirety by now from how fast he's been going." JJ said. Benjamin beeped a few times, flashing a blue light.

"Yes, you would, unfortunately, be correct. He has begun to move downwards into north Carolina as well. Two towns are already under his control." He said. JJ and Noah cringed.

"Well, that's no good. We really need to start kicking into high gear if we're gonna beat this guy." Noah said nervously. JJ nodded in agreement.

"We're gonna need to figure out where their headquarters are first of all. I'm not exactly sure how we'll do that, but I'm sure we can do it if we put our minds to it." JJ said confidently. They ran over to one of the tables, grabbing a stack of blank office papers before dropping them onto the table in front of the them all. The three worked together, writing down ideas and possible outcomes of different scenarios. Occasionally one of the NERDS would drop into the playground either to get something or just to say hi, and would put in their own personal ideas. Some ideas were deemed bad, and were crumpled up and thrown into the trash bin, and some were deemed possible, and were put to the side for later use.

The two worked well into the night, but were eventually forced to go to bed by Benjamin. That morning JJ jogged into breakfast holding a large backpack, as well as the metal slab they would often ride around on.

"Hey! Hey guys! I need to go out and get some stuff from my house. Anyone willing to come? Or am I gonna be doing this one solo?" They said. Ruby shook her head with a disapproving look.

"Absolutely not. If you're going out, you're taking someone with you." She said. Duncan shrugged, getting up.

"I'll come with you if you want." He said. JJ gave him a thumbs up. After rushing around to grab a couple of things they needed for the trip, the two trodded outside. JJ pushed the door to the base down using their upgrades, flinching a bit at the loud crash and the dirt flying up. Duncan patted their back.

"You're getting the hang of it." He said. JJ grinned, nodding.

The two jogged down the roads, eventually JJ led them to a dirt side road, leading down into a forested area. Duncan looked around at the trees that covered the sides of the road, creating a sort of canopy above them, while JJ continued looking forward.

"Hey, we're here!" JJ suddenly called. Looking ahead showed a slightly small house. It had two story's, and was painted white with dark blue trimmings. There was another, smaller workshop-like house to the side of the main house. It had a large backyard, and there was a small, round pond near the backside of it, as well as a gazebo in the middle. The wood was a very pretty cherry oak, with a black roof and accents. To the side, he saw a medium sized hut, obviously for some kind of chickens. JJ grinned, sprinting towards the backyard at a breakneck pace. Duncan jogged to catch up, finding them in the backyard on one knee, looking around and patting their legs loudly while clicking their tounge.

Duncan watched them do this for a minute, confused. As seconds ticked by, JJ seemed to be getting more and more downtrodden. Finally stopping the patting and clicking, they sighed. Duncan went to their side, looking confusedly down onto them.

"JJ, wha-" However, Duncan was not allowed to finish his words, as suddenly JJ let out a loud happy sqeal and reached their arms out, similar to how someone would reach their arms out for a hug. Duncan looked up, and looked on in absolute bewilderment as a very large chicken ran out from the side of the house. The chicken was mostly white, with a black tail and markings on its neck and a red face. It ran over into JJ's arms, clucking loudly all the while. JJ wrapped their arms around the large animal, laughing.

"Holy fucking crap! I thought that you had ran off for a second there Dandy!!!" They said. Duncan stared on in a mixture of surprise, bewilderment, confusion, and a multitude of other unidentifiable emotions as JJ happily played with the large chicken.

"Uhhhhh, JJ, can you explain please?" He said. JJ turned to him with a smile.

"Oh, yeah! I haven't told any of you I have a pet chicken did I? Well, this is Dandy. She's a Brahma chicken, that's why she's so big. We've had her for a couple years now. That's the main reason I wanted to come over here actually. I was really worried that she was dead or had run away or something. I'm really glad she didn't though!" They replied, patting Dandy on the head. They gestured back over to the house.

"Come on, we need to get her stuff. Also have a couple other things that would be good to get." They said. Duncan nodded, and the two jogged to the front door, which was unsurprisingly open, and walked in. Looking around, the house looked fairly untouched, other than a couple things having been knocked down. The two jogged down the hall, where a large closet was. Opening it, they saw that inside were multiple large bags of chicken feed, animal care tools, and the like. Taking the metal slab off their back, JJ started loading on the things. Duncan helped them load them on before being directed to find some rope that was kept in the living room to tie everything into place with.

After that, JJ ran upstairs into their room and began stuffing the backpack full of clothes that were previously stored in the dresser to the side of the room. Jumping into their bed, they reached up to a shelf above it that was on the wall, and took a few photos that sat there. Double checking the room, they walked over to a desk that was against the wall, taking the green desktop that sat there, as well as a locket that sat beside it, and stuffed both into the backpack as well. Dropping to their knees, they reached below their bed and pulled out a drawer. Shuffling around its contents for a second, they pulled out a small circular box with a spherical cover. It had golden trimming and legs, and was covered in intricate swirls and patterns of different colors all over. On the side was a small keyhole. Looking at it for a second, JJ put it in the pack, as well as a small gold key with a butterfly end.

Hopping back down the stairs two at a time, they jumped onto the landing, finding Duncan and Dandy near the door.

"Got everything we need?" Duncan asked. JJ thought for a moment, double checking their mental checklist, before nodding.

"Yeah, that should be it. Let's go. Can't wait to show Dandy to everyone." They said. Duncan snorted. Leaning down, JJ picked up the large chicken with one of their arms, using the other to levitate the metal with all the supplies on it, and exited the home. The two jogged down the empty roads, with no intervention luckily. JJ placed the supplies down on the ground in favor of talking put their phone to check the time.

"It should be around lunch time now. Perfect timing." They said. Duncan nodded, letting out a small laugh. Dandy clucked a couple times. JJ dropped the gate, and the two entered.


	27. Ringing melody

After they closed the gate, Duncan and JJ trodded into the school, immediately jogging over to the cafeteria, where they predicted the others would be waiting. Fortunately, they were right. Peeking into the room showed the group talking and eating together. JJ waved jubilantly.

"Hey guys! Guess what we got?" They cried. The others turned to them, about to greet the two, but immediately stopped when they all saw the giant chicken clutched firmly under JJ's arm.

"Uhhhhhh, JJ, might I ask exactly WHY you have brought a chicken here?" Heathcliff said. JJ dropped the supplies behind them, grabbing Dandy with both hands and presenting her proudly to the others.

"This is Dandy! She's my pet chicken!" JJ said. Matilda immediately jogged up, taking a close look at it.

"Oooohhhh! I thought I saw a chicken in a couple of those pictures you showed me. She's a big girl isn't she?" She said. The chicken clucked loudly, and she snorted.

JJ placed the chicken gently on the ground, letting it wander. Ruby immediately cringed away when it came close, scratching at her sides.

"I'm allergic to chickens. And feathers. Please keep that thing away from me." She said. JJ stared for a second.

"Oh. Well lucky for you we always keep Dandy outside. It's not good to keep them inside. And you're allergic to everything, so I guessed that." They said. Benjamin suddenly flew overhead, hovering over Dandy.

"According to my scans, Dandy is a Brahma chicken. This particular species of chicken come to be quite large in size, although this one in particular seems bigger than average, even for its species." He said. Dandy pecked at the floating ball curiously, however Benjamin floated out of reach of her beak.

Jackson and Julio walked up to the chicken. Julio reached out a hand, and laughed when it bumped its head into his hand, clucking contentedly.

"She's very nice!" He said. Reaching his own hand out, Jackson ran it along Dandys feathers. Dandy flapped her wings very slightly at the touch.

"Oh, OK, wow. I didn't know you had a pet. Cool." He said. JJ nodded, patting their legs again. The others watched, surprised, as the chicken immediately came running back over to them. Noah walked over nervously, still slightly backed away from it.

"Umm, is it OK if I pet her? Or will she freak out?" He said. JJ raised a brow at him.

"Well, no, she's really nice, and good with people. You saw Julio and Jackson with her right?" They said. Noah blushed, embarrassed.

"Well, I mean, yeah, but I just wanted to make sure." Noah knelt down onto one knee, holding a hand out tentatively.

Dandy walked forward, instead of going to his hand, instead pressed up against his chest, clucking affectionately. Noah gaped for a second before wrapping his arms around her, eyes sparkling.

"I...I love her so much." He said. JJ laughed loudly. Heathcliff came up beside the three, crouching down to their level.

"She seems very well trained!" He said with a slightly impressed tone. JJ nodded.

"We've been training her since she was just a chick!" They said proudly. Heathcliff gave the chicken a small pat on the head. JJ stood back up, stretching for a second.

"Well, I need to go set everything up for her. You know, hen house and bedding and food and whatnot." The others nodded, and JJ called Dandy rushing back out, levitating the supplies behind them and Dandy running after them.

For a couple hours, you could hear loud clanking and other sounds. The others occasionally came by to watch or offer their help, exept for Ruby, who still opted to stay a safe distance from the large chicken that stayed close to JJ while they worked. Finally, as it was getting close to dinner, they finished their work. What they had created was a large coop surrounded by a chain link fence with an opening at the front. It had crude patterns etched into it and had been painted a generic white and red. JJ stood proudly before their creation proudly, grinning. They wasted no time telling the others about their creation at dinner, which they gained a good amount of praise for. After dinner they went back to their bean bed as they called it and slumped down into it, placing the backpack they had brought into their lap.

Taking out their clothes first and placing them to the side, they reached in, and took out the locket. A close look at it, revealed it to be two silver wings put together to form a heart. Popping it open, there were two pictures set into the sides. One side held a picture of JJ's parents, and the other held a picture of a younger JJ. Sighing, they placed it gently down next to the bed. Next, they pulled out the computer and set it down onto the pile of clothes. Finally, they took out the circular box and butterfly key. They ran their fingers across it gently, before putting in the key and turning it a couple times. When they finished turning, the lid of the box popped open, revealing a small golden flower with different gems littered across its petals. As the box opened, the flower began to spin, and soft music began to echo through the room. JJ gripped the box slightly harder as the beautiful melody played, a flood of memories coming with it.

"Heh. Mutter always said that this used to calm her down when she was a kid. I can't say I blame her." They said quietly.The song eventually ended, and JJ closed the box, pulling out the key and placing both to the side carefully. Calmed, they layed down into bed, and let sleep overcome them.


	28. Blood is thicker than water

Ruby knew it was strange. JJ was usually there at breakfast. It looked like the others knew something was up too, mostly Noah, who was looking at the door with a half worried, half confused look on his face. However, it was EXTREMELY strange when they didn't even arrive afterwards to bother her or the others. It was worrying almost. She sighed, getting up from her seat in the library where she usually stayed, and walked out, towards the lockers that led to the playground. In a minute she was in the playground. Jogging over to the corner that held JJ's bean bed, as they liked to call it, she immediately saw that there was a significant lack of the child. She looked around, slightly confused, before deciding they must be either in the shower, or the bathroom. She checked the shower. No JJ. She then checked a couple of the bathrooms. Still no JJ. It wasn't until she reached the last bathroom that she found anything.

"JJ? You there?" She called. She was about ready to give up and check somewhere else, but her patience was rewarded.

"Yeah?" A small voice said from one of the stalls.

"Oh, there you are. Where have you been?" She asked. It might not have been intentional, but slight worry seeped into her voice.

It was quiet for a moment, before JJ's voice came back through the door. Strangely, it was wavering slightly, and came out awkwardly. Very unlike them, the usually outspoken and confident kid she usually knew.

"Here." Came the small reply. JJ paused for a second, before continuing.

"I'm...bleeding. And in pain. Bleeding and in pain. And before ypu ask, no, it isn't the type of thing I could go and put a bandaid on." They said. As they did, it all suddenly clicked into place for Ruby. The slight, almost unnoticeable pitch change in their voice, the awkward, careful words, the fact that they locked themselves into this stall for almost the entire first part of the day. Ruby stood there for a second.

"Oh...I see. Hold on, I have some stuff that could help." She said. Jogging out of the room, she went immediately to her makeshift room to grab some of the things she would need.

Getting back to the bathroom, she tossed a couple boxes under the door to the stall.

"Alright, so have you has the talk yet?" She asked tentatively. JJ snorted. There was a slightly bitter tone to it.

"Yeah. I had the talk. I'm twelve. I just was really fuckin hoping it wouldn't come, or at least come a lot later. The fact that I no doubt, kinda have a chest and a puss, is dysphoria inducing enough. This is really shitty. I hate this so much." Their bitter voice came out as more of an angry growl than anything else. There were a couple noises of shuffling and tearing, but eventually, JJ trodded awkwardly out of the stall, metal flying through their fingers at a rapid pace. Ruby placed a tentatively comforting hand on their back, which didn't seem to help much.

"Alright. Come on. You probably haven't eaten yet, so let's do that first." She said. JJ nodded, following her silently. The two walked quietly down the hall back towards the cafeteria. Once they arrived JJ sat down wordlessly at one of the tables and Ruby went to make something quick. She came back with some tomato soup, a cup of tea, and a small bar of dark chocolate. She gave them to JJ, sitting down next to them.

"The tea and chocolate usually helps." She said. JJ looked at her, shrugging and nodding before starting to eat it. For a couple minutes they sat there, occasionally exchanging a couple words, until Ruby decided to ask the question on her mind.

"Is it alright to ask about the dysporia thing? Its alright if you don't want to talk about it, but I was just curious about it." She said. JJ paused, staring at her for a moment, before sighing.

"Yeah its fine. Go ahead." They answered. Ruby nodded.

"Well, I guess I just wanted to know what its like living with it? I've heard about it before, but I've never actually met a person who has it." She said. JJ made a slight groaning noise.

"Its not exactly fun. I was lucky to have it slightly lighter, and it only really kicks my ass on bad days, which, surprise surprise, today is one of. On better days I can take showers and stuff without freaking out, and sometimes even be able to kinda appreciate it, but on worse days, just looking down at or a accidentally touching my chest is enough to make me severely uncomfortable, almost to the point of panic. I did that sometimes too." They shook their head, tapping their spoon on the side of the bowl in front of them.

"I'm not old enough to get a mastectomy, and I don't bind or take testosterone or anything, so when people see me, they have a tendency to assume I'm a girl. It's an ass, but sometimes even when I do get around to telling them that, no, I am in fact not a girl, I'm nonbianry, they STILL don't gender me right. Sometimes they even decide to be assholes about it and start talking shit that I'm not gonna get into right now." They said, almost growling.

Ruby nodded, beginning to understand.

"That's... not good. How long have you known you were nonbianary?" She asked curiously. JJ stopped, thinking.

"Well, I guess I've kinda always known? I just didn't find out there was a word for it until later years. It was weird, not knowing why people calling me she or he felt absolutely wrong, but I went with it. When I figured out calling myself they felt a lot better, I stuck with that. And oh boy, when I figured out that, 'hey! there's a word for that!' I was so fuckin excited and happy, I literally ran around screaming for a good hour. Scared a couple birds too." JJ laughed at the last thought. Ruby smiled slightly. For a little while, the two continued to talk for a while until JJ finished, at which point they had the panicked revelation that they hadn't even said hello to Noah, and ran off after saying goodbye.


	29. A reckless mistake

Noah was awoken by a hard shaking. He yawned groggily, turning to the person shaking him. As his bleary eyes adjusted to the dark room, the first thing he noticed was the signature piercing green eyes that belonged to JJ. Blinking, he looked over at the clock that was beside his bed.

"JJ. What are you doing up? And why did you wake me up at 3:56 in the morning???" He asked confusedly. A wide grin went across JJ's face.

"I really wanted to go out and test how far I can push my upgrades. The others told me I shouldn't push them to their maximum limit, buuuuutttt, I'm curious. Wanna come with me?" They said. Noah stared at them, slightly bewildered.

"That doesn't sound lie a good idea JJ. You could get in trouble, or hurt!" He said worriedly. JJ shrugged.

"Pshhhh. I've gotten hurt before. It can't be THAT bad." They said, waving him off.

Noah sighed, shaking his head, before hopping off his bed.

"Alright. I'll go with you, if only to keep you from hurting yourself. Wait a second." He said. Twenty minutes later the two children were creeping out of the base. JJ struggled to put the door down softly, but was able to manage it. Together, the two flew toward a reclusive part of town on the metal piece that JJ had. What JJ had led them to was a large scrap yard. JJ clapped their hands excitedly.

"Okay, okay, okay. This is exciting." They said. Noah looked around nervously at the surrounding area. The place was covered in bits and pieces of forgotten car parts, large pieces of scrap metal, and things of the sort. There were even a couple full cars, albiet broken down and rusty ones.

"JJ, I still think this is a bad idea." He said. JJ made a small dismissive noise, again waving him off.

"Don't worry Noah! It'll be fine. If something goes wrong you can always call the others with my phone. One of them is bound to pick up. You can leave if you feel unsafe too. I'll only take a couple minutes at most" They answered back, giving him a small encouraging pat on the back. Noah nodded.

"Yeah. I know. Just promise you'll stop if you don't feel good." He said. JJ gave Noah a big toothy grin and a thumbs up. They trodded over to the middle of the scrap yard and sat down, crossing their legs. They took a deep breath in and let it out, closing their eyes. They let the world around them drain away until there was nothing there other then them. After that, they began to focus.

They felt the nanobytes swirling through their body. They felt their power. After that, they reached out their senses. They felt the metal in their pocket, as well as around them. Almost as if they could give off tangible energys. Focusing in on the nanobytes, they felt as they began to burn and fill their body with energy. They kept doing this, bringing the power up as much as they could. It was beginning to almost become painful in truth, but they weren't stopping there. When they were sure they were almost at max power, they opened their eyes, standing up and reaching their hands outwards.

When they did this, the effect was immediate. Any metal that was stored in that area began to rise shakily into the air. JJ's began to sweat from the exertion. They felt their body begin to get hotter, almost burning. The things around them started to shift and bend, coming together and melding together seamlessly. From the side of the scrap yard, Noah watched this happen with wide eyes, however he turned his attention from the thing coming together in the air, and down to his friend. JJ was visibly shaking now, breathing hard and fast. Noah frowned, about to go forward, before a sudden loud buzzing voice came out of nowhere.

"Children!!!! What are you doing?!" It said.

Noah whirled around on his heel to the voice gaping when he saw the small, blue, beeping and flashing orb that was Benjamin.

"Benjamin! What are you doing here?" Noah asked surprisedly.

"I saw you leave through the security cameras, and followed you. However I was unable to fly as fast as JJ was able to fly. But that is neither here nor there. Answer my question!" Benjamin buzzed back. Noah looked on nervously.

"JJ wanted to test how far their powers could go! I just came along because they said I could if I wanted to." He answered. Benjamin made a couple loud beeping noises.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!" He cried. Noah flinched away slightly.

"A persons upgrades should never be pushed to their limit! It could kill you!" Benjamin continued. Noah's eyes went wide. Immediately, he turned around, sprinting toward JJ.

"JJ! Stop!" He yelled.

JJ turned their head slightly towards him with a confused and extremely tired look on their face. They looked about ready to collapse. The swirling metal parts around them began crashing to the around around the three. JJ put their hands down after letting everything down, almost having let a good couple pieces fall on them. Noah darted around the now grounded scraps and bolts, sliding to a stop beside JJ, just in time to see them wobble back and forth slightly, before collapsing. Noah was just barely able to catch JJ under their arms and place them lightly onto the ground.

"Oh no, JJ, are you ok??? JJ?" He said frantically, patting their cheeks a few times. Benjamin flitted over his shoulder.

"Kid? Hey, try to stay awake. Noah, how long have they kept that charge up?" He said.

"Uh, a little bit less than half an hour maybe?" Noah answered. Benjamin made a strange, electronic noise of distress at that.

"Ohh no. That's not good. I'm calling the others over the intercom system in the school. Hopefully they can get here soon." He said. Noah nodded, turning back to JJ.

Unfortunately by this point, their eyes had already closed, and were unresponsive to anything that was happening. Noah shook them by the shoulders a few times. Nothing. He tried giving them a few slaps. Again, nothing. No matter what he did, JJ didn't seem to respond. The only reassurance that he had that JJ was actually alive was the soft breaths coming out of them, as well as an extremely slow, but still there, heartbeat.

"Alright kid. The others are on their way. Julio should be here in a minute or two." Benjamin said. Noah nodded slightly, crossing his legs and placing JJ's head gently into his lap.

"Are they gonna be ok?" He asked softly. Benjamin whirred for a second before answering.

"I don't know." He chirped.


	30. Worry not

To say that it was a distressing morning for everyone would be an understatement. It hadn't even gotten light out yet, but they were all woken up by a loud static keening noise from the intercom. Once they had woken up, they were promptly informed that JJ had made the very stupid mistake of sneaking out to the scrap yard specifically to see how far their upgrades could be pushed. They all knew how well that could go. The group all met each other in the front hall.

"Fuck. This isn't good." Jackson promptly pointed out. The others quickly nodded.

"I can get over there fast and bring them back. You guys should try to meet me halfway. We don't know how bad it is, so we should try to be." Julio said.

"Hopefully its not that bad. I mean, I pushed mine to their limits twice, and I survived both times. Only passed out for a bit." Matilda pointed out. Heathcliff suddenly seemed to remember something suddenly.

"Julio, think you can jump over that wall? Matilda can carry you over if not." Julio shook his head, waving him off.

"I should be able to. I've jumped higher than that a couple times before." He replied. They nodded, and Julio turned the dial on his harness before sprinting out of the building. Luckily, he was right about being able to jump the wall.

Shooting down the streets, he was able to slide into the scrap yard within two minutes tops. Looking around, he could see it was an absolute mess. Piles of metal had been thrown everywhere, cars were upturned, and he wasn't able to see where the kids were located.

"Benjamin? Noah? JJ? Where are you? I can't see where you are!" He called out. There was a buzzing noise, and Benjamin flew out from behind one of the piles of scrap.

"Oh, Julio, you're here. Finally. Better get over here quickly." He said. Julio nodded, and Benjamin led him around a few piles, eventually settling on one of the ones that was more in the middle of the yard. Sitting there, was Noah and JJ. Noah looked about ready to have a breakdown, tears forming at the edges of his eyes.

"Noah! JJ! Are you two OK?" Julio called. Noah's eyes shot up to him, placing JJ's head gently onto the ground before running over to him and giving him a big hug.

"I'm fine. I don't know about JJ though. Their heart is really quiet." He said, sniffing slightly.

Julio cursed internally for a second, before jogging over to JJ, taking a knee, and pressing his thumb to their wrist, right on their pulse. Unfortunately Noah was right. Their heart was slow and definitely more quiet than it should be.

"Alright, its gonna be fine. Just stay calm. I'm gonna bring them back to base before coming back for you, OK?" Julio said, gathering JJ into his arms lightly. Noah nodded, rubbing at his eyes.

"Yeah. That's fine." He said. Julio gave him a small, reassuring thumbs up, before turning and running back out of the scrap yard as quickly as he could. Within the next minute, he had come fairly close to the base. Seeing that his friends were jogging over, he slowed down, meeting them on the sidewalk.

"Doesn't look too good guys. JJ hasn't even twitched since I've seen them, and their pulse is way slower than its supposed to be." He informed them. Heathcliff walked over, picking up their hand and putting a finger on their pulse to confirm. He cringed.

"Yeah, OK, that is definitely slower than its supposed to. Let's get them into the nurses office so I can try to get a better look at the problem. There's probably not too much I can do." He said.

The others agreed, quickly getting back to base before Julio pointed out that he needed to go get Noah and Benjamin. He left to do so, and in a couple minutes, again found himself in the scrapyard. Noah was there near the entrance laying on his stomach, drawing in the ground with his finger, Benjamin hovering beside him.

"Hey Noah, Benjamin. How are you holding up?" He asked. Noah, turned to him, jumping slightly.

"I'm fine. Is JJ gonna be OK? Did they wake up?" He asked quickly, standing up. Julio put his hands up in a placating manner.

"I'm sure their gonna be fine. Matilda pushed her limits twice, and she survived both times. I'm sure if she was OK after she did it, JJ will be too." He said.

"Yes, that would be true. She was only asleep for a while. I'm going to assume that JJ will be just fine after a bit of rest. Although I would have to say they're probably going to get one heck of a scolding." Benjamin chimed in. Julio nodded and Noah snorted slightly.

"They better. I TOLD them to stop if they started not feeling good. Not like that's much different than what they always did. JJ never listened to warnings in school. They always used to get in a lot of trouble because of that." Noah said, sighing.

Julio laughed a small bit, patting him on the back.

"Well I'm sure you can tell them off too once they wake up. But we have to be at the base to to that, so we should probably get going now." He said. Noah nodded, before coming up to him. Julio knelt down, allowing Noah to hop up onto his back.

"Better hold on tight." Julio said, before sprinting off. Noah screeched in terror a small bit as they took off. Within a few minutes they were finally at the base. Noah was glad to get off to say the least. The two immediately went over to the nurses office, which the rest of their group was waiting. Noah immediately went over to Heathcliff.

"Are they OK? Are they awake?" He said, almost stumbling over his words.

Heathcliff nodded, reaching over and ruffling his hair slightly.

"Yeah. JJ's fine. No they're not awake yet, but that's to be expected. They just need some time to recuperate." He replied.

"After that I would say we should all get some sleep. Its still extremely early." The others nodded, all dispersing to their separate rooms. Noah paused to stare at the door to the room that JJ was currently in, before leaving to his room. He dropped down into his bed, not bothering to change back out of the clothes he had put on for the little escapade. He was more than a little angry, both at JJ and himself. JJ for doing such reckless thing in the first place, and not listening to the others, as well as his, warnings, as well as being too stubborn to stop once they started feeling unwell. And at himself for not stopping them before this whole debacle happened.

"JJ you're gonna kill yourself one of these days." He sighed.


	31. Admitting the wrongs

...Fuck. It was too bright. Waaaayyyy too fucking bright. JJ groaned, pulling one arm over their eyes. The light was absolutely not helping the pounding headache they had, as well as the aching all over their body. With their eyes still covered, they felt around where they were laying, because it was obviously not their bed. The last memories they had were all fuzzy. They remembered waking up Noah and getting him to come with them to the scrap yard. They remembered activating their upgrades and pushing them as far as they could. They remember not stopping, even when pain started to build up in their body. They remembered the faint, static voice of Noah as they let everything start to crash down around them as the world turned dark. They remembered far away voices that they tried to reply to, but everything felt numb and staticy.

JJ did a few mental checks, as well as physical. Other than a few aches and pains as well as a small migraine, everything seemed to be in order. Reluctantly, they let their eyes peek out from under their arm, scanning the room. The room was obviously the nurses office. They had gone to the nurses office in their school a fair amount. It was a bland, sterile, white color, and they were laying on one of the four beds in the room. It was also fairly small. They looked up, seeing that the room was lit by a few overhead lights put into the ceiling. They would have gotten up just to turn them off and continue sleeping, but they knew better. JJ took their time to adjust to the light and sit up, ignoring their body's protesting. They also made a slight hissing noise when their bare feet hit the cold tile of the ground.

They found their shoes and socks right next to the bed, and proceeded to quickly put them on before checking the time.

"Oh. OK. Wow. I was out for a good while wasn't I?" They whispered to themselves quietly. It was a little while past lunchtime, so that would explain why they were parched and hungry as all hell. They quickly jogged out of the room, resolving to go to the cafeteria and see what food they had. And some juice or water or something. They jogged around the corner, and were about halfway down the other hallway before they heard footsteps from the hall they just came from. They stopped as there was a small creaking of a door, more footsteps, and a pause. Then, a extremely loud, high pitched, and strangled noise of distress echoed throughout the hallways.

It was enough to send JJ into a fit of gut busting laughter, nearly falling over in the process. This caused another pause before rapid footsteps slid around the corner. Standing there with a look of distress and bewilderment, was Heathcliff.

"JJ!! You scared the living daylights out of me!" He cried, approaching them. JJ stood up from their laughter, wiping away the tears that has come to their eyes.

"Holy shit. You sound like a fucking school girl on helium when you scream." They said. Heathcliff blushed in embarrassment, and spluttered indignantly for a second.

"Thats not what we should be talking about JJ. We need to talk about the fact that you snuck out and nearly killed yourself by doing something that I KNOW for a fact that everyone here has specifically told you NOT to do under ANY circumstances! We are all very disappointed." He scolded. JJ frowned, looking down at their feet slightly.

"I mean, you guys didn't specify what would happen if I did it. I was just curious." They said quietly. They knew they probably worried everyone a great deal, and they should probably be guilty about it.

Heathcliff sighed, shaking his head.

"And that would be our fault. We just didn't want to scare you with the possible repercussions that pushing your upgrades that far would be. However, you should have listened to us. We tell you not to do things when said things could possibly cause harm to you or others." He said, crossing his arms and frowning at the small child in front of him.

"Yeah I know. I just-" JJ stopped for a second, taking a deep breath. Their hand was visibly twitching towards their pocket out of reflex.

"I just wanted to-" Again, they stopped, fists clenching. They shook their head, turning away from Heathcliff.

"Nevermind. I'm just gonna go get something to eat 'n shit." They finally finished. As soon as they said that, they ran towards the cafeteria.

They arrived without running into anyone again, and luckily there was nobody in there when they arrived. They quickly got some apple juice, trail mix, and leftover spaghetti from last night. Hopping up after finishing, they turned out of the room, only to bump into someone, stumbling backwards slightly.

"JJ! Oh! Sorry, didn't see you there. Are you OK? How are you feeling?" said Duncan, who was the one they had bumped into. Next to him was Julio.

"Hey JJ!" He said, waving. JJ nodded back at them.

"Oh, hey guys. I'm fine. Just had a bit of a headache and my body hurt when I woke up. Their mostly gone now though." They replied. Julio bent down slightly to hug the child.

"Well that's good. We were really worried you know!" He said. Duncan nodded.

"Yeah. You weren't even responding even a little bit." He frowned. JJ shrugged guiltily.

"Yeah. Sorry about that. I guess I was just curious." They said. Both the older men nodded.

"That's all well and good, curiosity is the driving force of discovery after all, but you have to be more careful. You could have gotten seriously hurt!" Duncan said, patting their shoulder.

JJ nodded. The three exchanged a few more words before JJ left, continuing down the hall. They hoped to find Noah in particular, for having him have to bear witnesses to what happened, as well as possibly being scolded for their actions. They passed by the library, which showed to have both Ruby and Jackson in it, talking about something or other. JJ knew they would definitely be scolded if Ruby in particular saw them, so they tried to creep past without being noticed. This, however, did not work.

"JJ. I know you're there. I'm allergic to people trying to sneak away from me.Get in here." Ruby said without even turning her head to them. Jackson seemed slightly surprised, turning to face them.

"Oh! Hey JJ! Back from the grave?" He said with a laughing tone. JJ groaned, entering the room and coming to stand in front of Ruby. The two stared at eachother, JJ with a resigned look, and Ruby with an arguably not happy one. The tension got slightly thicker. Jackson, for once, seemed to sense the mood, and decided to leave before he got too involved.

It took almost a half hour for Ruby to finish her tangent. A couple of people had passed by, giving JJ sympathetic looks when they heard Ruby's raised voice. Unfortunately, no matter how much JJ silently begged them to remove them from the situation, they didn't come save them. The others knew better than to mess with Ruby when she was mad.

"And again, that was very dangerous and you should NOT do it again. Do you understand me?" Ruby finished. JJ groaned, rolling their eyes.

"Yeah. I know it was dangerous. You said that, like, a million times. You didn't need to say it again MOM." They hissed back with purpose. Ruby jolted a bit at that, and JJ seemed to start regretting those words. Before anything else could be said, they turned on their heel and sprinted out of the room, ignoring Ruby's call.

Running along the empty halls, they hopped to a stop in front of the gym. Walking into it, sure enough, there was Matilda, whaling on a punching bag. JJ was sure if she kept hitting it that hard, it might break. They waved to her once she noticed them.

"Hey kiddo! Nice to see ya back on your feet! Saw you with Ruby a while ago. How'd that go?" She said, stopping her onslaught on the poor punching bag and jogging over.

"Ugh. Don't remind me. Shes pretty long winded isn't she?" JJ answered with a sigh. Matilda let out a hearty snort, patting their back.

"She always has been. That's our team leader for ya. She's always been a stubborn worry wart. Doesn't like when things dont end up going according to plan." She said. JJ shrugged before nodding.

"I can see that." They said, looking back at the punching bag.

"Looks like you did a good number on that thing. You should teach me sometime. I only know things like kung fu, karate, and tai chi." They said. Matilda let a wide grin overtake her face.

"That, I can do. Don't even have anything to do, so yeah! I could teach ya a bit about wrestling." She replied. JJ's eyes sparkled for a second, before they frowned and shook their head.

"Sounds great. But I gotta find Noah right now. But we can do that later." They said. Matilda stared at them for a second before giving them a smug look.

"Ohhhhhh. I get it. Sure. You go get your boyfriend." She said teasingly, wiggling her eyebrows. JJ however, gave her a confused look.

"He's not my boyfriend. He's my friend. I could say the same for you and Duncan though. Don't think I don't see you two giving each other the lovey eyes." They retorted. Matilda's face immediately became a bright, firetruck red. She began stumbling for an answer, but JJ was already gone.

They almost gave up looking because of how long it was, but fortunately, they finally saw him turning the corner up ahead of them.

"Noah! Dude! Hey!" They cried. Noah turned around immediately.

"Now before you say anything" JJ said.

"I got a long talk from Ruby. I know I fucked up. I know I worried all of you, and I'm sorry. If I knew that would happen I probably wouldn't have done it. I'm still kinda in pain to be honest. Not a lot though. Look, you didn't deserve to have to be worried like that, and I promise I'm gonna try to make it up to you." They said, reaching up and giving his shoulder a pat. Noah squinted at them, looking for hints of a lie. He closed his eyes for a second, putting his head down and taking a breath. His hands gripped JJ's shoulders tighter for a second, before pulling them in and wrapping his arms around them. JJ paused, surprised at the move, but hugged back.

For a minute they stayed like that, before they pulled away.

"Alright. Wanna go get some gummy worms or something?" JJ asked. Noah nodded.

"Sure." He replied. The two jogged down the hall together towards the cafeteria.

"Oh, oh, oh, you wouldn't believe what Matilda said earlier." JJ said, chuckling.


	32. Cant stop wont stop

"Can you get off?"

"Nope."

"JJ, you've been on my back for the past hour."

"Yup. This ain't even close to how long I can stay on." Jackson sighed as JJ only gripped him tighter. Earlier in the day, JJ decided to test how long they could stay on someone's back and unfortunately for Jackson, he was the closest candidate. They said it was for "training" but Jackson knew they just wanted to try to annoy him. He was currently walking along the hall randomly. There wasn't much to do in the base, and truthfully, it was pretty boring most of the time. They should have gotten moving by now, but they still hadn't picked out a plan that would work.

"Why don't you go jump on someone else's back for a while?" Jackson asked, halting and craning his head around to try to get a view on the child.

"Cause that wouldn't break my record!" JJ chirped back. Jackson raised a brow.

"And what would your record be?" He asked.

"Four hours." Came the quick reply. Jackson stared for a second, bewildered.

"Who would even LET you stay on them for that long?" Jackson said. JJ snorted, not replying. Jackson could very well have knocked JJ off a good while ago, but he had decided to humor them since they seemed to be happy with it, and they definitely weren't all that heavy either. Jackson could no doubt carry them for a good long time, but he decided that he was going to get them off now so he could get things done. He went to the room that had more or less become a sort of living room for the base. JJ looked on curiously when he entered.

Going to the couch that was set on one side of the room, he turned his back to face it, before putting his arms straight out to the sides. JJ knew exactly what was coming. They made a loud squeal when Jackson allowed himself to topple backwards onto the couch, landing the both of them onto the plushy cushions. The two of them had a laugh, and JJ did let go of him. There was a small noise, and the two turned to the door.

"Well you two seem to be having fun." Ruby said, walking into the room. Jackson immediately jolted up off the couch.

"Oh! Hey Ruby. Didn't see you there." He said. Ruby approached the two cocking up an eyebrow.

"So whats on the activity agenda for today?" She asked. JJ grinned, sitting up and crossing their legs.

"I stayed on Jackson's back for an hour!"

"They did." The two answered.

Ruby let a small smirk tug at the edge of her lips, putting her hands on her hips and shaking her head.

"Of course you did." She said. For a second, she looked to Jackson, who was staring at her. Their eyes locked for a few seconds. JJ looked between the two, face dropping into a smug and teasing look.

"So did you guys fuck yet?" They asked suddenly. The reaction on both Ruby's and Jackson's faces were absolutely priceless. JJ, however, didn't give them time to argue, as they jumped up, slamming their weight into Jackson, causing him to tumble forward into Ruby. JJ sprinted out of the room as embarrassed and rageful voices called after them. On their run, they happened to fly by Julio, who turned before running up to catch up with them easily.

"JJ? Why are you running so fast?" He asked confusedly.

JJ shook their head, continuing their rapid hallway sprint.

"Made Jackson and Ruby mad. They'll catch me if I don't hide." They said between breaths. They slid to a stop in the hallway with the lockers, quickly opening one of them.

"Uhhhh. JJ, that's not a playground entrance." He said. JJ nodded.

"I know. Now shoo. If they ask you if you saw me, say yes but don't specify where I went. Ruby is allergic to lying." They said before closing the door to the locker and going silent. Julio stared for a minute, before shrugging and leaving the hall. Julio did see Ruby and Jackson. Both of their faces were bright red and they didn't look too happy. He did what JJ said, but unfortunately they still found them. The next few hours consisted of JJ running and hiding in increasingly harder to find spots, being found, running away again. Jackson had attempted to catch them with his braces, but was unfortunately combated by JJ's upgrades. They eventually all got tired and had to take. a break down in the playground where JJ had perched in the rafters.


	33. General direction

Noah dropped into the playground, immediately looking around the area. JJ had run off on him, saying they needed to go research something when they were in the middle of a conversation. Seeing that JJ was in front of the main computer in the room, he jogged over. Looking up to see what exactly they were doing, he saw that they were going over multiple mission files, agent files, and news. Their eyebrows were furrowed, eyes flicking back and forth between the information splayed across the screen, obviously concentrating fairly hard.

"What are you looking for JJ?" Noah asked.

"Something on The Judge." JJ replied bluntly, not turning their attention away from the screen in front of them. "Well, what in particular? You looked like you had a sudden idea when you ran off." Noah said. JJ frowned, pinching the bridge of their nose and sighing.

"Yeah. I did. I still need help getting the info though. Can you go get Benjamin? He should be able to work quicker than I can." They said. Noah gave a slight confused and curious look at them, before nodding and running back over to the exit.

He jogged around the corridors, looking for Benjamin, who, if he remembered correctly, usually stayed around Duncan most if the time. It took a few minutes, but he did eventually find Benjamin. The two went back down to the playground where JJ was waiting.

"Hello JJ. I was informed that you needed my help?" Benjamin chirped. JJ nodded.

"Yeah. I was thinking for a little bit, and it hit me that it might be possible that this guy might have a criminal record. There was one undercover agent that was able to get lucky enough to actually see the boss guy, and took a picture. Its all over the news. He was killed shortly after though. Poor dude, rest in peace." They replied, a sympathetic tone coming in at the end. They clicked a page on the thing, and it brought up a news article. The cover was a photo of a man.

He was obviously older looking, maybe in his sixties. He had piercing green eyes and tanish skin, way too close to what JJ looked like for their liking. His ebony black hair was greying at the sides, and was slicked back neatly. He was wearing a black tuxedo and in truth looked very prim and proper. Not really like what most villains you would come across looked like.

"I was thinking we could get some type of scan on him, see if he has a past or not. Shouldn't be a problem with what tech you guys have at your disposal, should it?" JJ said to Benjamin.

"I should say not." He replied. For a minute he beeped and buzzed and flashed a few times, before eventually settling down.

"Well. I would definitely say he has a past. A past with the NERDS no less." He said. JJ and Noah looked at eachother with surprise.

"Wait, really? Can you bring up that mission log?" Noah asked. Within a second, a new file was opened on the computer, showing a page of information like the other mission files.

"This mission was a long one. Took a full week for everything to get done." Benjamin said. JJ nodded but didn't acknowledge him other than that. Reading over the log revealed that he had attempted to blow up a good few towns, and when the NERDS finally stopped him, he was somehow able to get away. There was a long search before they imprisoned him. A small news search

quickly showed that he had escaped prison about six years ago. JJ assumed the time out of jail immediately went into gathering his forces and things like that.

"Sheisse." JJ said quietly. Noah looked at them, confused. Benjamin beeped a few times.

"I didn't know you knew German JJ." He said. JJ seemingly snapped out of whatever concentration state they had put themselves in.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. A bit. One of my moms was German and she would talk in it a lot, so I kinda ended up picking up the general gist of the language. Enough to keep a conversation going if I wanted to." They explained.

Noah made a small impressed o with his mouth.

"Cool! Can you tell me a sentence?" He asked curiously. JJ's eyebrows furrowed, thinking for a second.

"Sicher könnte ich, aber es tut wirklich nichts, oder?" They asked.

"Sure I can, but that doesn't really do anything does it?" Benjamin translated. Noah clapped a bit, eyes sparkling.

"That's awesome." He said. JJ grinned and shrugged.

"Its nothing really." They said, waving him off. But their face soon turned serious.

"But in all seriousness, this isn't really good. If that guy is able to figure out that the NERDS are after him again, it could go downhill real fucking fast. I don't doubt that he remembers the people that captured him in the first place, and I'm guessing he's probably definitely put measures in place to keep that from happening again." They said, crossing their arms.

Noah nodded with a frown, before patting their back.

"I mean, yeah there's that, but you got us a lead JJ! That's pretty awesome! Now we kinda know what we're gonna be dealing with, right? We should go tell the others." He said. JJ nodded.

"Hey Benjamin, can you call the other guys to get in here over the intercom?" They asked.

"Of course." Benjamin chirped back. Immediately after, there was a loud crackling through the system.

"Hello everyone, I would like to inform you that JJ has found a lead on The Judge, and would like if you all got down here asap." Came Benjamin's voice through the intercom. JJ gave him a thumbs up.

"Thanks Benjamin." They said.

"Now let's see who gets down here first."


	34. Got a plan

In the end, it was Julio who got there first. Much to be expected though. He dropped into the playground, waving to the children, as well as Benjamin.

"Hey JJ, Noah!" He greeted. The two waved at him. Next to arrive was Matilda, then Ruby, then Jackson, then Duncan and Heathcliff, who arrived at the same time. All of them gathered to the front of the room where JJ had plopped dramatically Into a rolling chair like some kind of James Bond movie villain. It was particular hilarious because they didn't even seem to have noticed the way they were sitting until Heathcliff pointed it out.

"JJ." He said, snorting slightly.

"Are you sitting like that on purpose?" He asked. JJ paused. looking down at their position, they scowled slightly.

"Fick dich" They replied, a small smirk working its way onto their face. The others stared at them, bewildered. Heathcliff squinted his eyes in suspicion.

"I'm not all that familiar with the language, but I'm fairly sure you just cursed me out in German and I don't particularly like that." He said. JJ laughed, and nudged Noah a bit, who also giggled slightly.

"Oh yeah. Forgot to tell you that I picked up on it from one of my moms." They said nonchalantly, shrugging.

"But that's not what we're here for. We found some leads on our guy." They continued, pointing back at the computer that was displaying the mission log, as well as the news report. There were a few confused mumbles as they read through the log, but slowly, all of them seemed to realize what JJ was getting at.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Hold on. Are you telling us that guy broke out of jail end is trying to fuck over the world AGAIN?" Matilda exclaimed. JJ nodded.

"Oh yeaaaaaaahhh. That guy. I remember him. He shot me in the shoulder. I still have the scar." Duncan said, frowning.

"Damn." JJ said, frowning. The others nodded at that.

"That was a pretty long mission. Surprisingly hard too. We were all very, VERY happy when it was over." Ruby said. There were a few small chuckles from the group as they agreed.

"Anyway," JJ said.

"We know kinda what we're dealing with now. And I think I've thought up a pretty solid plan if I do say so myself. Honestly I'm not sure why I didn't think of it earlier though." The others nodded.

"Alright, well, hit us with it." Jackson invited. JJ clapped excitedly for a second before messing around with the computer for a second, bringing up some sort of power point like slideshow. It had slightly crude drawings and JJ's messy, but definitely not illegible, handwriting all over it.

"So, basically what I'm thinking, is we go out to the edges of the town where all the goon motherfuckers are, and we kidnap one of them. From there we can push the guy for information on the base of operations. So after that we can wipe his mind with some of that memory stuff that's supposed to be here and...uh...we can figure out what to do with the information once we get it? I didn't actually plan that far."They explained. Each point in the plan was showed on the slideshow by small stick figures and objects on the slides doing something or other. Noah giggled slightly.

" Nice drawings JJ." He teased. JJ stuck their tounge out at him. The others seemed to be thinking it over.

"That...actually isn't a bad idea. Good job!" Julio said.

"It could use fleshing out and the like, but its definitely possible. I'm not getting allergic reactions to it, so it isn't bad." Ruby said. Matilda wooped, throwing a fist in the air.

"Hell yeah! I haven't beaten up a thug since we got here! Its about time we started kicking bad guy butt again!" She said enthusiasticly. Everyone agreed.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get to work." Heathcliff said. And with that said, everyone gathered together and started working it out.

The group went back and forth between different formations, tactics, and plans. Matilda suggested they go in guns blazing, but that was quickly shot down. It would draw too much attention and would very likely end up badly if one of the witnesses was able to call in to the base. It had to be a quick, stealthy, in and out mission. They couldn't take more than a few hours, lest one of the thugs notice their cohort was nowhere in sight. Quite frankly, JJ and Noah had absolutely no idea what the group was talking about. They didn't have the years of spy experience that the others had. It was giving them both a headache.

"Hey Noah, wanna get out of here and get some tea or something?" JJ said, turning to him. He looked confusedly at them.

"You like tea?" He asked. JJ gave him a deadpan look.

"Yeah. I like tea. You coming or not?" They answered. Noah shrugged and nodded.

"Yeah, sure. Let's go." He said. The two quickly left. Nobody seemed to have noticed.


	35. Intermission

JJ."

"Yes?"

"How."

"How what Noah?"

"How in all actual living christ did you light water on FIRE."

"I dunno."

"It is quite literally impossible to light literal tap water on fire."

"I mean...was supposed to be impossible. Its kinda happening right in front of us dude."

Went the back and forth between two children who were currently staring at a kettle that was completely untouched, save for the water inside of it. Said water had a flickering flame settled neatly across it by some ungodly force of nature. The two had been attempting to make some tea, but as soon as JJ had turned on the burner of the stove to start boiling the water, it immediately caught fire.

JJ and Noah continued to stare blankly at the flames lapping around the top of the kettle, but luckily not leaving that. Noah turned to JJ.

"We...should probably get that under control." He said.

"...Yeah. Let's do that. We'll figure out the physics later." They answered. With a flick of their finger, the kettle lifted off the stove. They went over to the sink, pouring more water into the kettle and dousing the flames, leaving the water black and swirling with specks of ash. They promptly poured it down the drain. Placing the kettle onto the sink for later investigation, both children stared at it for a while longer, pondering the situation.

"Let's...not do tea. We could just get some juice or something." Noah said. JJ nodded quickly in agreement. The two went over to the fridge for said juice. They opened the door, and JJ quickly grabbed any and all juice they saw, even a couple boxes in the back that were probably from when the school was still open, obviously expired. Noah stared in bewilderment at them.

"JJ. What are you doing." He asked. JJ seemed to space off for a second before shrugging.

"I wanna mix em all together." They said, dropping everything onto the counter and grabbing a bowl. Noah only watched as they mixed and matched different juices that were definitely NOT made to be mixed into one bowl. They also went back to the fridge a few times, grabbing some cherry cola and sprite, mixing a bit of those in too. When asked WHY they were mixing soda in too, they simply said "Because everything is better with soda." with an innocent look and left it at that. Halfway through they also decided they wanted to put salt, pepper, and pretty much any condiments they could find in as well as siracha. What they had in the end, was a pitch black mixture. A mixture that happened to also set fire a few seconds after they stood back to look at it.

"Oh." JJ said quietly. They leaned in and blew, which luckily seemed to blow it out. Immediately after that though, they both were extremely sure they started hearing screams of the damnmmed as two glowing eyes peered out of the bowl.

"Hey guys! What are you two doiiii-" Matildas voice slowed to a complete, horrified stop as she looked into the bowl, which had had three more sets of glowing eyes appear and had multiple far away tortured screams and whispers coming out of it. There was a long silence. The only sounds in the room were from the demon bowl.

"Know what? I'm just...gonna...leave you guys to whatever your doing." Matilda said, backing out of the room. Noah glared at JJ.

"I am telling literally everyone to never let you near the kitchen again." He said.

"Fair enough." JJ agreed. The two promptly looked up how to correctly close up holes into hell.


	36. Goofy gadgets

Almost immediately after closing what both children were very sure was absolutely a portal to hell, there was a loud woosh, and the two turned.

"Hey! Ruby wants us all in the playground now." Said Julio, who had just came up behind them. The kids nodded.

"Awesome! We got a plan?" JJ said. Julio nodded.

"Yup. We already have what we need to do since we were making it together, but Ruby still needs to tell you two what your jobs are." He replied. Noah and JJ grinned at eachother, before rushing off to the lockers. Julio had already shot past them when they got there. Within the next minute, both children had been safely deposited into the playground. Ruby was at the head of one of the tables with a few papers in her hand. She waved JJ and Noah over and they sat down.

"Alright, so, I'm going to give you the lowdown on what we're gonna be doing. Noah, you're staying here with Heathcliff first of all." She said. Noah frowned but accepted it. He didn't really want to get upgrades, so it made sense.

"Yeah...fine." He huffed slightly. JJ patted his shoulder.

"Maybe next time bud." They said with a laughing tone. Noah rolled his eyes at them. Ruby snapped at them, drawing their focus.

"Hey. Kids. Focus." She said with a dissaproving frown.

"JJ, you're coming with us, but you're staying back for if anything goes wrong. You're going to be staying on one of the buildings and keeping watch to make sure they don't come around and catch us by surprise while we're in there. I might be able to sense that myself, but its better safe than sorry. After we get our guy, you are going to be staying there to make sure that nobody notices one of them is missing. Matilda and Duncan will be with you on that part. I can't stress this enough, but this is a STEALTH mission JJ. I know you love to run in and make a rucus, but if you do that here, it might blow our cover. No charging in and screaming " for narnia" OK?" She explained. JJ snorted.

"Well, I mean, you gave me the idea now." They said innocently. Ruby glared full force at them.

"JJ" She growled warningly. JJ put their hands up in a placating manner.

"Alright alright, geez Ruby no need to get mad." They said, sweating slightly. Ruby sighed, shaking her head.

"And for reference, we will be using our codenames when we are out in the field. Yours was fidget right?" She asked. JJ nodded.

"Thats the name, don't wear it out." They said smugly. Ruby did not look very amused to say the least.

"...Tough croud huh?" They said over to Noah. He made a poor attempt to stiffle his laughing. Ruby tapped her fingers, waiting for the poorly concealed laughter to finish.

"Are you two jokesters done yet?" She asked with a raised brow.

The children nodded, turning their attention back over to her.

"Alright. JJ, there are a couple things that might be useful to have that Heathcliff and Duncan want to give you. Why not go get them? They should be up in the work room." She said, pointing over to the exit. JJ nodded, waving bye to Noah before running off. Soon enough they got to their destination. They briefly considered kicking the door open, but decided that would do more harm than good, and simply walked inside like a normal person probably should. Like Ruby had said, Heathcliff and Duncan were both there.

"Sup guys. Heard from Ruby you got some things for me." JJ greeted. The two waved back at them.

"That would be correct! Come over here a second." Duncan said.

JJ trodded over, and Heathcliff handed them something. It looked like a watch.

"So, we were able to get most of the things that were here up and running again, as well as refurbish them and add a few new features." He said.

"What you are holding there might look like a regular watch, but I can assure you that it isnt. For example, it can do this." With that said, he reached onto one side of the watch, pressing a button on it. A thin red laser quickly shot out of the front of it. It burned into the table in front of them. He angled it down, and it cut a clean, straight line down the middle of it. JJ's eyes sparkled in awe.

"Whoa." They breathed. Duncan nodded.

"Whoa indeed." He said, smiling.

"It has a few other features too. Like a map," Heathcliff said, pressing another button, which caused a small hologram map of the town to appear, as well as a small green dot, which JJ assumed was the watch.

"A communicator," he tapped a few things on the watch, and one of the other on the table began to ring out a small tune.

"A lockpick," once again, he pushed a button, and two small metal pieces came out of it with a click.

"And a flashlight." He finished, pressing down on the watches face, which caused a bright light to come out it.

"If you ever need it, there's also an sos feature for if you're in trouble and there's nobody near you. It'll track the watch and track where it goes so it can send it to the others. We picked up a good few of these things, so there's enough for everyone. We cant find the nose coms, so these will have to do for now." He said. JJ raised a brow.

"Nose coms?" They asked. The two adults nodded.

"Nose coms. They were tiny communicators that were implanted in your nose. They worked pretty darn well if I do say so myself." Duncan said. JJ gave a slight skeptical look, but brushed it off as just one of those spy things.

"That's not all though. We have a little thing that would probably be a much better to carry around for riding then that other thing you use." Duncan said. He reached back around the table and pulled out two things. One looked kind of like a snowboard. It was made out of metal and painted black and green. There were two things on it that were apparently where the feet went. It had a few lights on the sides as well. The second thing had two black arm straps that were connected to a grey circle with a green center.

"You can fly around on this without having to worry about falling off or anything, and I'd say it would be a LOT easier to carry around. It has a couple cool features that could help you out. I'll show you." Duncan said. He pushed down on one side of the board. It buzzed for a second before hovering in the air slightly.

"For one, you can let yourself hover without having to use your upgrades." Then he went to the other side of the room, and pressed the center of the strange harness thing. It began to glow slightly, and so did the board. The board suddenly zipped over, attaching itself to the harness.

"You can get the board to come back to you from a good long ways away." He pulled the board from the harness. He tapped on it three times, and a bright light came out of the front.

"As you can see, it also has headlights for traversing at night. There are a few options on how bright you can make that. And that's pretty much it." Duncan finished.

He handed JJ both of them, and JJ attached the board onto the pack...harness...thing and pulled it onto their back, doing a small clip strap across their chest. It was pretty snug and didn't shift around when they moved. They grinned, eyes sparkling.

"Fuckin awesome. Thanks guys!" They said. Heathcliff and Duncan gave them a thumbs up.

"Well, we all probably get back to the playground. We're probably going to start the mission in a couple hours." Heathcliff said. The other two nodded, and they all exited the room and went towards the lockers. JJ was quite nearly shaking with excitement, a wide grin stretched across their face.


	37. In the field

Before the group actually got out there was a bit of back and forth about what equipment they should bring as well as general getting ready. JJ ended up deciding against their usual brightly colored clothes and went with a black turtleneck and baggy sweatpants as well as dark brown combat boots. It wasn't soon enough that they all finally started getting moving. The group jogged down the road silently until they came around the edges of the town where the goon territory began. They slid into an ally next to an apartment complex with an emergency stairwell to protect them from sight while they got directions.

"Alright. We know the plan right? Wheezer, you're up first. Fly over the sentry post up ahead and see if there are any easy targets. We can take down two if we need to. We'll wait for you on the roof of this building. After that Flinch can take them out and bring them back to base while Braceface and I follow. Fidget, Wheezer, and Gluestick stay behind after that and make sure nobody is the wiser. Its a stealth in and out mission. Don't make a scene." Pufferfish said.

They all nodded and stood up. Wheezer flicked her inhalers onto stealth mode and launched up into the air. They watched her leave before nodding to eachother and rushed up the emergency stairs on the sides of building. The stairs ended just before.the roof, so they improvised. Fidget floated up with their board, Flinch simply jumped up, Gluestick walked up the side of the building, Braceface used his vest to lift himself up, and Pufferfish was picked up by the previously mentioned Braceface and placed down. Fidget was bouncing on their heels excitedly.

"This is so awesome. I'm actually on a spy mission." They said. Braceface laughed and patted their head.

"Pretty exciting huh? Unfortunately it has a tendency to loose its luster once you start doing it for a long time though." He said. Fidget frowned at him.

"Oh really? How many missions have you all been on?"

"Oof. Hard question. Too many to count honestly. Shouldn't you know that from the mission files?" Gluestick said. Fidget crossed their arms and nodded with a slightly frustrated look on their face.

"Yeah, but that little self destruct thing you did to the playground messed some stuff up on the computer. A lot of files got deleted or corrupted and I'm no digital master, so I don't know how to salvage that stuff." They answered. The others nodded in understanding.

"Exactly how damaged was the place when you found it? You seemed to do a pretty good job of fixing it up." Flinch chimed. Fidget thought for a moment, tapping a finger on their hip.

"Well, pretty damaged I would say. A lot of things were sparking and in pieces. Some things had fucked up wires and things weren't where they were supposed to be. I had to do a lot of improv with what I could. I'm lucky I know a bit about metalworking and electronic fixing from my moms. My mom was a blacksmith and my mutter knew her way around tech if she needed to do something with it. It was a lot of trial and error to be completely honest." They explained. The others were a bit impressed to say the least.

The next couple minutes continued with idle chit chat, but soon enough Wheezer was back. She flew over to the building, landing with a dramatic flip, which got a few claps.

"Looks like we got it pretty easy. There's a goon who just got mad and stormed off from his group. Doesn't look like the others are even worried." She said. After that, she gave Flinch the directions, and he sprinted to go off to get the goon.

"Alright guys. You know what to do. Flinch, Braceface, and I will go back to base, and Gluestick, Wheezer, and Fidget will stay to make sure nobody is alerted. If anything happens, you can call us on the watches and we'll get there as soon as possible. Everyone get it?" Pufferfish said. She was met by a chorus of affirmative noises, and she nodded. Soon after that, Flinch was back, with a large man tossed across his shoulder. Fidget whistled slightly.

"Damn. Those fuckers are big. Jeez." They said. Braceface stifled a laugh.

"Well I would say anybody is pretty big compared to you." He said. Fidget whipped their head around and gave him an icy glare. They trodded up to him, before launching themselves up, grabbing onto his shoulders and digging their legs into his sides so as to not fall off and put their face close to his, nearly touching noses.

"I will make sure they never find your pieces once I'm done with you." They growled. Braceface shut up quite quickly, and began sweating nervously. The others looked on in various states of surprise, fear, and discomfort. Fidget hopped off of him and he and the others were quickly gone, leaving the three smaller members together.

"Alright guys, plan is, we triangulate. Gluestick, you take the bottom. Fidget, you take the top left. I'll take the top right. Don't go too far." Wheezer said, pointing over to different locations. They nodded, and split. Fidget hopped on their board and flew over to where they were placed. It was closer to the highway out of town, and there were a lot of trucks and goons milling around a few of the buildings. Fidget nestled down into an orange tree that was growing in a garden on one of the roofs. Its leaves covered enough so Fidget could see them but they couldn't see Fidget. Shifting around to get into a more comfortable position they took a deep breath, letting the cool air pass through their lungs. This could take a while.


	38. Captive to feeling

Fidget sat quietly in their tree, watching over their assigned area vigilantly. They looked back over at the areas where Gluestick and Wheezer were supposed to be stationed, looking to see if they could see if they were visible. It didn't seem that they were. Suddenly there was a small beeping noise from their watch, and a light flickered on and off on it. One of the others was calling them. Fidget pressed the answer button on their watch, and Heathcliff's voice came in.

"Hey Fidget. Just checking in. Anything to report?" He asked. Fidget looked back up, flicking their gaze around to the area. Nothing seemed to be disturbed. There was a large building just in front of them that seemed to be more guarded than the rest. Goons were going in and out frequently, and there were a few heavier armed henchmen guarding the front.

"Nope. Nothing really. There's a big building in front of me that's being guarded more than the other ones, but I don't know whats going on in there. I'm not gonna risk getting too much closer." they replied.

"Alright, good. The interrogation is taking longer than expected. This guy has some pretty tight lips. You might be there for a little longer." Heathcliff said. Fidget shifted again, stretching out their limbs before settling again.

"That's fine. I've got a pretty good spot, so I'm not really worried about being spotted." They said.

"Great! I'm going to check in with the others now." Heathcliff's voice stopped, and there was a small static noise indicating the call had shut off. Fidget sighed, letting their gaze go back to the ground. A few minutes later, something started happening. A couple of the goons went over to the trucks, got in and started them. Fidget leaned forward slightly in curiosity, looking on at what was transpiring.

A group of goons came out of the guarded building and began talking to the henchmen. The henchmen nodded, leaving their posts to go into the building. While that happened, a few goons separated into groups into the trucks. There were about twenty of them, as well as about three motorcycles. Fidget's eyebrows furrowed, and they tapped their watch a few times, calling Heathcliff. A few seconds later, his voice came in.

"Hello Fidget! Something to report?" he asked.

"Yeah. Looks like somethings up on my end. There are a lot of trucks here and it looks like some of the goons are getting ready to start moving them somewhere. There were guarding the big building in front of me, but they just went in a couple minutes ago. That's all I needed to report. I'll get back to you if something else happens. You might wanna tell the others to hurry up the interrogation." They replied. Heathcliff started saying something, but got cut off by Fidget shutting off the call. Their attention was quickly drawn back when sudden loud shouting rang through the area. One of the henchmen from before suddenly crashed through the door of the building and lay still on the ground, and soon after, the other one came running out behind him. He was disarmed, not having the gun that he had before.

Fidget looked back at the door where the henchmen had come from, and suddenly, everything seemed to stop. Running through the door, followed by a good lot of other people, were two women that were very familiar to them. Their mom was extremely tall, reaching at least a full seven feet, and had dark skin and black fluffy hair that wasn't in its usual ponytail on top of her head. Her look was fierce and determined as she plowed down a few goons, smacking a few goons with the gun that had been stolen from the henchman. Their mutter was considerably shorter, and had short blonde hair as well as pale skin. She looked focused as she fought nearly back to back with the other woman, sending precise strikes to any enemies that came near. Fidget's throat seemed to close, and their heart began slamming in their chest.

They clicked a few buttons, getting in a call with Heathcliff, Wheezer, and Gluestick. There were a few attempts to start a sentence, but Fidget cut them all off. They had to force their voice down to make sure they didn't shout.

"Fuck, holy shit, guys, shits going down over here. My moms are here, holy fucking shit GUYS. I need to get down there and help them! There are a few other people too." They said. Their voice was rushed and high pitched. Their body was twitching, ready to jump into the fight any second.

"Fidget, don't move. I know you want to save them but if you charge in and try to fight everyone in there, you're going to break our cover." Gluestick said over the watch.

"Yeah. Just wait, we'll be there in a minute. Maybe they can get away." Wheezer said reassuringly.

"Were almost done over here." Heathcliff informed. Fidget gritted their teeth, their hands clenching into white knuckled fists.

"Fuck...yeah. Fine. I'll try. Don't blame me if I charge in to kick ass though." they said. They slammed their finger down onto the watch to once again stop the call on their end, quickly looking back at the transpiring fight. As it seemed, unfortunately, the captives, including their moms, were being quickly outnumbered by the goons. One by one they all went down. Their moms went down last. Their mutter whipped her fist into the side of one of the goons heads, knocking his balance off. She took a step forward and shoved him back, causing him to stumble and fall back. Two goons came up behind her, grabbing her shoulders and slamming her into the ground. One put his foot on her throat and held her in place. Her mom sent a hard kick into one of the goons groin before she saw it. When she did she yelled out in anger, charging forward to tackle one of the goons holding her mutter.

She was able to land a few solid punches, but soon enough one of the henchmen from earlier that had been thrown through the door stepped in, pulling out a tazer and pressing it to the back of her neck. She jolted and twitched, falling forward. A pair of handcuffs were placed quickly on both women's wrists. Fidget wasn't going to stand there any longer. They jerked forward, beginning a sprint towards the edge of the building, reaching back to grab their board. However, they weren't able to make it off the building, as two hands grabbed their shoulder and picked them up and pulled them slightly away from the edge. Fidget wiggled around fiercely, attempting to free themselves from the grasp of whoever held them. Turning their head, they saw that the one holding them, was Gluestick. Standing slightly behind him was Wheezer.

"What are you DOING???? I need to get over there and help them!!" Fidget hissed. Wheezer and Gluestick looked at eachother, exchanging a look.

"Fidget, look. We know you want to help them, but we'll break cover if we do. The others finished their work and are heading over now. We have to leave." Wheezer said with a sympathetic tone. Fidget let out a loud growl, attempting once again to jerk away from Gluestick's grasp desperately. They looked down at where their mothers and the other captives were. They were all being forced into different trucks, probably to be sent to wherever the fuck The Judges base was. Their moms fought a bit more, but were subdued quickly and thrown into a truck with a few others. Their mom shuffled closer to her mutter, placing her head onto hers and looked up.

Where their mom looked, however, was exactly where Wheezer, Gluestick, and Fidget were set. Their moms eyes settled onto them, and went wide. Fidget locked eyes with her, and their heart jumped into their throat. They reached out an arm to her. She jerked up, nudging their mutter and gesturing to them with her head. Their mutter similarly locked onto the three on the roof. She seemed to mouth something, but the truck started moving down the road towards the highway. Fidget had to choke back a scream for them.


	39. Running off

When the group left, JJ had to be pulled away. They struggled and kicked and growled at the others, but eventually they were able to get home. JJ was placed down and they immediately rounded on the others.

"What the fuck guys!?!!?!??? I need to go back and find them!! Their in danger!!!! Who the hell know what could happen to them when they get to where their going!!!!" They yelled. Their voice cracked a few times and tears were beginning to prick at their eyes. The others exchanged a few looks.

"Look...JJ. We know you want to go save them, but you can't right now. If you try to do that now without any idea of a plan, you might as well get captured too. Sorry JJ." Duncan said, patting their head. JJ was completely frozen, with something akin to betrayal painted across their face.

"Why don't you go and calm down? It might help a bit." Julio said placatingly. JJ growled and grit their teeth, turning on their heel and storming away.

"Hey guys! Welcome ba-" Heathcliff's greeting was cut short as JJ slammed into him, continuing to storm away. Noah, who was next to him, turned and jogged up behind them, attempting to put a hand on their shoulder. They, however, were not having this. They jerked away from his touch, whirling around and shoving him back with both hands. Noah stumbled and fell to the ground with a bewildered and confused face. JJ seemed to regret the action, but they shook it off, squeezing their eyes shut, turning, and sprinting in the other direction.

The others watched them go with a mix of sympathetic and surprised looks. JJ had never rounded on someone like that before. There was a long pause, tension slowly fading from the air.

"That...was an understandable reaction actually." Matilda said. The others nodded.

"Know what? I'm gonna go check up on them." Jackson said. He walked forward away from the group and toward where JJ had run. It wasn't where the lockers were, so he knew they wouldn't be in The Playground. He predicted they most likely went to the library. So, following his intuition, that's where he went. When he got there, the room was completely dark. No light came from anywhere in the room. He was about to leave to look somewhere else, but he heard a few small noises from inside. Namely small sniffles.

He walked into the room silently, without turning on the lights, peeking around a few bookshelves to check for his target. Soon enough, he found them. There, sitting with their arms wrapped around their legs and head buried in them, was JJ's small, dark figure. Jackson walked forward, crouching down in front of them. They heard him walking to them, and hugged their legs harder.

"Fuck you want?" JJ asked quietly. Their tone dripped with ice, much different than usual.

"Hey now, no need to get angry. I was just checking up on you." Jackson replied. He scooched forward, and dropped next to them. There was a long pause.

"Did you figure out where the base was?" JJ finally asked. Jackson nodded, even though they couldn't see him.

"Yeah. According to the guy, they set up base in chase city. So not too far from here actually." He replied. JJ shifted slightly, pulling their head from their legs to look at him. It was still very dark, so he couldn't see what their look was all that well.

"...Are you guys figuring out a plan to get in yet?" They asked.

"Well...no, not yet, but we'll do that in a bit probably."

"Oh. Yeah, fine." JJ rubbed at their face, sniffling a few more times. Jackson reached over tentatively and ruffled their hair slightly.

"Hey. Don't worry. Your parents are probably fine. Once this is all over you'll be able to go home with them, I'm sure." He said. JJ shook their head slightly.

"You shouldn't be so sure. If I dont try to save them, they might be dead by the time we're done." They said. Jackson sighed, standing back up.

"Well don't go off doing that just yet. Why don't you go get something to eat and sleep after that? Its been a long day." He said. JJ said nothing in return, simply standing up and leading the way out of the room.

That night, JJ didn't appear at dinner. Jackson hadn't seen them since the little check up he had with them. Something bothered him most of that night after their talk, but he couldn't exactly pin down what. Something just felt very, very wrong. He decided to check on JJ again. He didn't really know what made him want to do it, but something wasn't right. He dropped into The Playground, immediately jogging to where their bed was. They weren't there. He looked around, and saw that their board, backpack, and watch were missing. This most definitely confirmed that something was wrong. He made his way back up, and when he passed by the storage area, he saw that one of the blasters that were usually placed on the wall, was missing.

"Oh. Oh no. They better not have." Jackson said under his breath. He went to his room, where he had placed his watch. He turned it on, immediately going to the map. On it, were a few green dots. Most of them were extremely close, but one lone dot was quickly making its way from the area.

"Fuck. They did."


	40. Bad mistake

JJ's hair whipped around slightly as they were propelled through the sky by the board they stood on. Their eyes were locked forward, set in a determined glare. They looked back at the watch for a second to get their directions right. The map, as always, showed seven small green dots. JJ's dot was moving quickly toward the edge of the town as they moved, but soon they realized, a second dot was moving toward them as well. They tensed up, reaching forward and tapping the dot. Above it, two small letters popped up. BF, the initials for their codenames. All of them had them. Ruby's was PF, Matilda's was WR, Duncan's was GS, Julio's was FH, Heathcliff's was HH, theirs was FT, and the one in front of them, was Jacksons. Almost as soon as they checked it, a small ringing noise came from the watch. It was a call from him.

JJ immediately denied it, turning their attention to flying once more. However, again, there was a buzzing from the watch. It was a message this time.

BF: JJ I swear to all that is good you better not be doing what I think you're doing.

JJ groaned, rolling their eyes. They decided to humor him. They were probably going too fast to catch up too anyway.

FT: Yeah. I am. And there's nothing you can do to stop me. Sorry, but I'm not just gonna sit on my ass when who the fuck knows what is happening to my moms.

BF: JJ no. I know you're worried, but if you do this you're going to regret it. What are you even planning on doing?

FT: I dunno. I'll figure it out when I get there. Probably blow a few walls down if I can. Break a few heads and see where their being kept.

BF: You might know karate but you're still a tiny kid. Do you really expect you're going to be able to fight possible hoards of goons, henchmen, and minions?

JJ hadn't thought about that. He was right. They could most definitely take down a few, and the size difference between the hulking bad guys and JJ gave them an edge in a fight. They were small, fast, and light. All of those things would be useful in fights against a few opponents, but it also worked against them. If they got hit hard enough from one of those guys they would be on the ground in seconds, even if they weren't knocked out. They were also extremely easy to pick up, so if one of those guys were able to get a good hold on them, it would be over for them. Even though they could take hits like a truck, they would be easily overpowered and outnumbered by a large group of goons.

FT: I'm not gonna be getting up close in personal if I don't need to. I'll just coast on my powers. Chill dude. You don't need to try to come after me.

BF: Correction, I most definitely need to. I am NOT letting you do this

FT: Already am. Now if you dont mind, I'm gonna turn off my messages now. can't have you distracting my flight.

After that, they quickly shut off the messaging and calling system, going back to the map.

They pulled the hood of their hoodie up, pulling around the front of it and zipping the front of it. It was black and had a skeleton pattern all over it, and the mask went all across their face, where there were two patches of see through material that they could see out of. Looking back to the map before looking forward again, revealed that they were getting closer to the road they needed to get on. They were quickly reaching the edges of where they had staked out the place. Feeling slightly confident, they flew down a bit, passing by the orange tree that they had sat in. And...oh. Oh no. The immediate regret of flying closer hit them like a ton of bricks, sending their heart slamming into their chest. There was a henchmen standing right next to the tree. And he had seen them. There was a brief moment when the two locked eyes, and the henchmen's gun was pulled from its holster.

JJ swerved, attempting to go higher, but there was a loud gunshot, and a bullet shot into the mechanism that held the shoe locks in place. They only had a second to get lower as they tipped over backwards, falling unceremoniously off the board. They slammed into the ground hard. Their vision immediately went darker as searing pain crashed through their body. The loud yelling around them was quieter than it should have been as JJ fought to retain conciseness. They tried to push themselves up, but their arms shook under them and they tipped over once again. Their head hurt, and their ears seemed to ring slightly. They felt disoriented and the world spun slightly. They heard multiple people surrounded them, and a hand grabbed the back of their hoodie, forcefully pulling them up.

"What the hell? Where did you come from?" one of the people surrounding them asked. There was a sound of a door slamming, and the henchmen that had shot them down came jogging out of the building.

"They were flying by on that weird board thing. Shot em down right quick." he said. One of the other goons leaned down and picked the board up off the ground, examing it.

"Well whatcha think we do with em? the goon holding them said. The henchmen thought, tapping his side.

"It would be best to send them back to base. They could probably figure out what type of crazy shit this thing pulled." He replied. The others shrugged, and began to disperse as JJ began to get tugged in a different direction. They struggled a bit, attempting to free themselves from the goons grasp, to no avail.

"Hey! Put me the fuck down you asshole! Lemme go!" JJ snarled. The goon growled, pulling an arm back and backhanding them.

"I suggest you shut the hell up." He replied. JJ growled again, attempting a kick to his knee, which they missed. Suddenly, there was a loud crack as a metal fist flew straight into the goons face. He flew backwards, dropping JJ from his grasp. They JJ dropped to the ground, wobbling a bit on their feet. They felt someone else pick them up, this time much more gentle.

"Hate to say I told you so, but I told you so. Are you OK?" Jackson said. JJ blinked a bit, before nodding.

"I think so. I might have a bit of a concussion though. I hit the ground pretty hard. Just lucky it wasn't concrete." They replied. Jackson nodded, looking back to where goons and henchmen were gathering.

Analyzing the situation, he quickly realized there was absolutely no way they were going to be able to fight all of those people off. He gritted his teeth. Looking back to JJ, he pushed the button on the center of their carrier, causing the board that was a little ways away to come flying back to them.

"JJ, you need to get out of here. Now. Get back to base. I'll cover you, OK?" He said. JJ frowned up at him.

"What? No! I can't leave you here to fight alone!" They answered back. Jackson pinched the bridge of his nose, looking back and forth between JJ and the quickly gathering goons.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry. I'll be right behind you, just go." He said. Pressing the hover button on the board, he placed JJ onto it, and used a hand to push them as far away as he could before turning back to the bad guys.

JJ looked back to him for a second before clenching their hands and flying back, away from the transpiring fight. They reached down and pressed the messaging button.

FT: Guys, uh, I fucked up. I ran off again to try to go find my moms but Jackson figured me out but I didn't think he would be able to catch up so he would just turn around but I got a lil reckless and ended up getting the shoe clamp things on my board shot and they didn't work so I fell off and I might have a concussion idk but Jackson is still back there and I'm heading back rn and Jackson said he would be right behind me but I can't see him and idk what to do

Their hands shook slightly as they sent the message, sighing and looking back again. It still didn't look like Jackson was following them yet. They were beginning to start feeling nauseated. They slowed their flight slightly, as they could feel themselves slipping slightly. They sat on the board with their legs dangling off, and they definitely not very high. Just about four feet.

There was a buzzing, and they checked their watch.

PF: JJ, you are very much in trouble when you get back.

WR: Bad move kiddo. /

GS: That was really dangerous JJ. Hopefully Jackson can get out of there

HH: Uh, guys? Jackson's moving away from us. Not towards us now.

JJ almost completely froze, they checked there map, and sure enough, Jackson's dot was moving quickly away from their area. They cursed loudly. He must have been stopped or something.

PF: Oh no

FH: Okay. yeah. not good.

WR: JJ, you said it yourself, but you fucked up.

FT: Okay, yeah. I'm going back. Not gonna leave him behind.

GS: With a concussion and a malfunctioning board? I don't think so.

PF: Get back here and we'll figure out what to do. JJ, I'm disappointed.

JJ put their head into their hands, taking deep breaths. Thoughts whirred through their head, causing it to hurt even more. They really fucked up badly. Their chest tightened and it became slightly harder to breathe. They knew they fucked up bad. Really bad. Now Jackson was going to be in the hands of that phycopath and who knows what the hell would happen to him. Tears pricked at their eyes, but they didn't let them fall. They had to figure out some way to fix this. But first, they just needed to get back to base.


	41. We got a fight on our hands

*Trigger warning in this chapter for violence and a bit of blood! Nothing too explicit, but its still there. Stop reading of you feel uncomfortable!*

Jackson used one hand to shove JJ as far off as he possibly could away from the area. He saw them give him one last look before shooting off. He hoped that they would be able to get back to base safely. Like hell he was going to let them get captured by the phycopath running this whole shit show. Turning back, he saw that a large group had already gathered. He pushed one fist into one hand, cracking his knuckles, then did the same for the other. Then he cracked his neck and got into a ready stance.

"Alright boys. So. We can either do this the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way being you let me go, and the hard way being I kick every single one of your collective asses before leaving. Which one is it gonna be?" He said. He didn't actually expect them to let him go. It seemed he was right as one of the goons charged him with a battle cry.

"Hard way it is then." Jackson said quietly.

The first went down easily, only needing a swift punch to the jaw to go down. Four more came at him, three of them were swatted away by his vest. The last remaining threw a punch at his face, but Jackson grabbed the fist, using his other hand to grab his shoulder. He pulled him closer, shifting one leg behind the goons other, and pulled through, causing him to topple over, where he was grabbed by a metal hand and tossed into the crowd, which took out about five more. He created a large hammer, using it to smash two goons into a wall. Loud cries of pain came from them as they toppled to the ground, most likely with multiple broken bones. He darted forward into the crowd, jumping up and kicking on of them twice before landing, and kicking behind him, taking out another.

He made large propeller like blades, spinning them around his body and slashing away ten of the people who had surrounded him. Blood spattered onto the ground as they all went down, a couple very likely dead. He grabbed two, tossing them into four in front of him and smashing them into the ground with a large hand. One of the goons got I'm close and slammed one leg into Jackson's side. He gasped for sir and stumbled back, throwing a punch into the goons throat and sending him down. He sweeped a large group of seven people out in front of him with one big metal panel and threw them into the air. Suddenly, something sank into his neck, and he jerked as electricity went through his system. There was a small thud as he fell to the ground. He was pulled up, and something else, a needle, went into his neck and his vest was pulled off.

He growled, smashing his head into the chin of the goon who was holding him. Jackson dropped and turned on his heel, slamming a fist into the mans temple. He was starting to feel very tired. He realized what that needle was. Tranquilizer.

"Shit." He swore. He stumbled slightly as his vision blurred. Two more goons took ahold of his shoulders, and another tranquilizer was shot into his neck. He slumped over, dead weight. He was dragged somewhere, although he wasn't exactly sure where as his head was getting foggier by the second. He was tossed into some kind of prison van, and the door slammed shut behind him. He tried his best to stay awake, but to no avail as his eyes drifted shut and he passed out. The last thing he felt was the feeling of the van he was in rumble to life and starting to drive forward.

{Hiya guys! Sorry this is a little short. I wanted to add more on, but I dont really know how to do good time skips, and I also didnt want the chapter to go beyond the word limit. Sorry about that! I hope you still like it though!}


	42. Back again back again

The others were already waiting inside the base when they got there. Ruby was pacing, and the others looked nervous. When Ruby heard JJ enter, her head snapped over to them, and she stormed over. Definitely not happy.

"What were you THINKING???" She cried. JJ flinched back slightly at the loud tone. She sounded angry to say the least.

"Actually, no, you know what? You probably weren't even thinking were you? You just went off on impulse without even thinking about the consequences. Do you even have anything to say?" JJ closed in, gripping one arm with the other and looking down.

"...Sorry." They said quietly. Ruby shook her head. Pinching the edge of her nose.

"Just being sorry doesn't CUT it JJ." She growled back. She was about t continue, but luckily for JJ, Heathcliff intervened, putting one arm in front of them.

"Hey now, I know you're angry, but you shouldn't take it out on them. How about I just go see how bad they got hurt and talk to them a bit while you calm down. We can think of a way to fix this." He said. Ruby glared at him lightly, but turned on her heel and walked away down the other hall. Heathcliff was quiet for a second before he patted their shoulder and turned them towards the hallway leading to the nurses office. The two walked silently, JJ's gaze fixed to the ground. They arrived, and Heathcliff opened the door and gestured inside. JJ trodded in and plopped down on one of the beds. Heathcliff went over in the back, shuffling around a bit before coming back with a small icepack wrapped in a hand towel. He gave it to JJ and they placed it on their head. Heathcliff sat next to them.

"JJ, I'm not really sure what I should really say about this. You...I get that you were worried, and rightfully so, but you can't just...go off like that." He said. JJ looked away from him slightly, eyes still stuck to the floor.

"You acted on your impulses without stopping to think about what could happen. Its not a good thing to do. You need to work on that." JJ shook their head, gripping their pants.

"No. I knew what could happen. I...I just thought...I thought I could handle it." They said. Heathcliff stared at them, freezing for a second.

"...Oh. Well I wouldn't think that anyone could handle that. Much less one kid, albeit a superpowered one. You shouldn't either. You're not invincible because you have powers now." Heathcliff said slowly. JJ only nodded. Heathcliff sighed, shaking his head.

"Alright. You'll want to rest a lot and keep some ice on that when you can. Give your head some time to heal." He said, getting up. JJ nodded again, hopping up and quickly exiting the room without a word.

They walked quietly, but stopped when they closed in next to the library. The others voices were echoing out of it.

"Ruby, calm down we're all freaking out in our own ways, but you need to calm down." Duncan's voice said.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN??? Like hell I'm going to calm down! Who the heck knows what's happening to Jackson right now? For all we know he could already be dead! And JJ needs to get it into their head that abusing their upgrades like that puts us all in danger. " Ruby's voice yelled back. JJ cringed inward, pulling their arms to their chest.

"I mean, yeah, but don't you think taking them away is a bit much? We could probably get the same idea in their head with a stern talking to. And come on, let's not get worst case scenario with Jackson's situation." Matilda said.

Oh. So that's what was happening. JJ should have guessed that would probably be what would happen. They guessed it was reasonable, considering they had already nearly killed themselves with it two times already.

"Why don't we just focus on making a plan for Jackson right now? We can deal with JJ later." Julio said. JJ backed away from the door, turning on their heel and leaving toward the playground. They were probably lucky that Ruby didn't seem to be paying attention to her allergies. They definitely would have been detected otherwise. They dropped into the playground, landing lightly. They headed over to the upgrade room immediately. They didn't need to be told to get them removed. They could do it themselves. It was definitely painful, but still something they could deal with. After that they simply dropped onto their bed and decided to get at least some semblance of rest.

It was more or less half a hour before someone finally came down. Regrettable since JJ was just on the edge of sleep. It was Duncan.

"Hey JJ! Uhh, can we talk for a second?" He asked. JJ grumbled something back.

"What?" Duncan said.

"Nicht stören. Don't bother." They translated.

"I already heard you guys talking. So I did it already. You can go now." Duncan froze at that. He rubbed his neck a bit.

"I hope you know its not because we have a grundge against you. But-"

"Yeah I know." JJ cut him off. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped. He turned, giving them one last look before leaving. JJ grit their teeth, curling in on themselves and pushing back the tears that stung at their eyes.


	43. Arrival in the center

slowly, and there was a strange fog that clouded his head, making it hard to think. He tapped the area in front of him. It was metal. He felt the ground he was laying on shake, and there was the distinct sound of an engine coming from somewhere in front of him. His eyes opened slowly, taking in his surroundings. It was a prison van. He rolled onto his stomach, pushing himself up off the floor with shaking arms, and stumbling to his feet. He still felt tired and weak, and his legs felt like jello, almost sending him back to the floor. Probably the courtesy of the two tranquilizers they had used on him. He remembered his watch. Suddenly, he felt the car start to slow down, making him wobble slightly. Shit, if they got their hands on it they would be able to track the others. He quickly unclipped it, and slammed his heel into it a few times. It broke into pieces. There were a few muffled voices, and a minute later the doors opened. There were two goons standing there. Jackson immediately punched one of them in the jaw, but was cut off from any more attacks by the second goon grabbing his arms and forcing them behind him, clapping a pair of handcuffs onto his wrists.

He thrashed, attempting to get away, but the goon wrapped and arm around him and slung him over his shoulder.

"Hey!!! Put me down!" Jackson yelled loudly, kicking at the goon with what little strength he currently had. The goon he had punched smacked him across the head.

"Shut up." He growled. Jackson growled back at him, but opted to take in what surroundings he could see from where he was. It was sparsely dotted with a few, almost broken down looking buildings. There were goons and henchmen millimg around, as well as a few people who could only be described as prisoners. They all had dark and vacant looks in their eyes, looking almost dead in truth. Most of them looked worn down, with multiple scars spanning their bodies. Jackson's throat closed on him for a second.

He craned his body as far as it would go to try to see in front of them. There was a small brick building with a large chain link fence around it that had an absolute absurd amount of barbed wire on it. There was a heavy guard around it, henchmen at every corner of the place. They nodded at the goons who held him, and opened the gate for them. They walked toward the building, and opened its door. Inside, was a plain room with a large stairwell leading down somewhere. Looking to the side of the room, there was a single person mopping up something that looked like blood from the floor. His fear was quickly confirmed when they continued forward, showing that in the corner of the room was a cart with a broken and bloody body on it. Jackson was starting to feel sick.

They entered the stairway and began their decent. The walls were a plain grey, and florescent lights flickered overhead. It was a long way down, but they eventually landed on the smooth stone floor. Continuing down the hall, there were multiple crisscrossed hallways and doors, and there were goons and henchmen swarming the place. Jackson though he saw one of the bigger goons give him a sympathetic look, but that probably wasn't the case. They continued walking. Along the corridors were numbers, and as they started getting higher, the area started getting more cleanly and better kept. Soon enough, the stone floor shifted to marble, and the dark and dreary lighting turned brighter. There were painting adorned on the walls of pretty forests, lakes, and mountains. Strange for a villains lair since most were more tuned toward violent and intimidating scenes.

Suddenly, they stopped. Jackson once again leaned around to try to see in front of them. At the end of the hall, was a set of cherry oak double doors with ornate handles. Above the door was a silver plaque that read "The Judge". The goons looked extremely nervous, sweating and and looking back and forth between eachother and the door. One of them finally walked forward, knocking on the door.

"Come in." Came the reply. The goons stiffened, before opening the doors,stepping inside, and tossing Jackson onto the floor harshly. He sat up onto his knees, and looked in front of him. There was a black desk there with a black leather chair behind it, and sitting on it, was the judge. He opened his arms with a sickly sweet smile on his face.

"Why hello! It has been such a long time since I have last seen you. Welcome!" He said. Jackson sneered at him.

"Fuck off." He spat. The Judge sighed, and one of goons kicked his head, sending him back to the floor.

"Such vulgarity. We'll have to see if we can teach that out of you in the future." The Judge sighed. Jackson got back up, gritting his teeth.

"Great, you got me here. The hell you going to do now?" He snarled. The Judge clapped his hands, a hateful grin starting to split his face.

"I'm glad you asked! We're going to do what we do to all the people who come here." He settled his head on his clasped hands, looking down onto the other man.

"We're going to break you. I must say, I'm going to have fun with this. After all, you are the one who prevented my plans from being put in action earlier." He said. Jackson stiffened and glared.

"Good luck with that. My team is probably already on their way to get me out of here and take you down. Your ass is grass." He growled. This gained him a harsh kick in the ribs. The Judge shook his head with a smirk.

"I sincerely doubt that. No one even knows where you are I'm guessing. No one is coming to save you." He replied. He waved his hand dismissively.

"Alright, take him to his cell now. I have quite a few things to plan for our first session. I am truly sorry that this little meet up was so short, but it was mostly just for clarification. I didn't know if it was truly you after all." He said. The goons behind him grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and forced him up, before shoving him out the door. Jackson hoped help would be coming soon.


	44. Buddy chum pal brotha amigo buddy chum-

JJ opened their eyes reluctantly, taking in the sight of The Playground once again. They had woken up about half an hour ago, but they didn't want to go back up. They shifted onto their back, looking up at the ceiling. They groaned, before finally rolling off of the bed, feet hitting the floor without a sound. They pulled on new clothes, and went up. They walked along the corridors hesitantly, anxiety clutching at them as they neared the cafeteria. They stood near the door, before taking a deep breath and entering. As they thought, the atmosphere of the room immediately became tense, and eyes settled on them.

"Morning JJ. How's the head?" Heathcliff greeted. JJ shrugged.

"Fine." They answered. They scanned the groups. A few eyes were on them, but Ruby in particular refused to look at them. JJ's eyes went to the floor, jogging quickly to grab their food. Noah was quickly beside them.

"Hey JJ. You ok?" He asked. JJ nodded.

"Yeah. But I'm not gonna stay in here. Let's just go to the living room and chill there for a bit." They said, gesturing out of the room with their head. Noah nodded, running to get his food, before exiting with them. The tension started fading, and JJ breathed a quiet sigh of relief, their shoulders beginning to release tension. The two walked quietly for a while until they reached the room. JJ flicked a hand towards it. Nothing happened. They froze awkwardly for a moment before opening the door regularly. Noah stared at them.

"Oh...no...JJ, did they take your upgrades?" He asked. JJ sighed, nodding before entering the room and plopping down onto the couch with Noah following close behind.

"Yup. I don't really blame them though." JJ said, fiddling with the fork in their hand. Noah frowned, looking back onto his plate.

"I guess I can get it. No offence." He said. JJ shook their head, waving him off.

"None taken." They replied dismissively. They stabbed their fork into a piece of egg before shoving it in their mouth, leaning into the couch. As they chewed, their face became slowly more distant, and their eyebrows furrowed.

"JJ?" Noah asked with a worried tone, snapping his fingers in his face. JJ jerked, saying something in rushed german before shaking off whatever thought had grabbed ahold of their mind.

"Uh, yeah? What is it?" They asked. Noah stared at them for a second, looking into their face.

"Are...you okay?" He asked. JJ blinked in surprise, eyebrows going up.

"Uh, yeah? Why do you ask?" They said back. Noah raised a disbelieving brow.

"I don't belive that. You're tapping your foot and your hands in your pocket. You only do that when your worried or thinking." He replied, pointing. JJ paused, looking down. They had indeed been doing both things. They laughed nervously.

"Ohhhhh. Haha. Yeaahhhh. Don't worry, it's nothing, I'm fine. It's fine." They said. Noah obviously didn't believe it. They swallowed hard, before suddenly snatching up their plate, and shoveling everything on it into their mouth. They said something muffled and accentuated by small bits of food flying out of their mouth, which Noah cringed at, and pulled their piece of scrap out of their pocket and waved it a few times, before sprinting out of the room. Noah attempted to catch them, but they were gone by the time he opened the door.

JJ had sprinted down the hall, before sliding to a stop and catching their breath. They would rather not talk about what was on their mind. They flicked their scrap through the air a few times. It was a familiar action that they were comfortable with. As it landed in their hand, they examined it absentmindedly. It was squareish, but its edges were worn and uneven. Its surface was dulled, and didn't exactly shine. They could probably improve it. Their mom was always interested in making a cool dog tag necklace out of it for them. They thought for a moment, before shrugging.

"Eh. Why the hell not?" They asked themselves. They turned, jogging down the hall.


	45. Painful beginning

{Before you read this chapter, trigger warnings for toture! If you're uncomfortable or get triggered by that stuff, please skip this chapter! Stay safe!}

Jackson shifted in his seat, once again attempting to undo the cuffs clasped firmly onto his wrists for the hundredth time. He was in a dark room, with barely anything but grey stone. He didn't know how long he had been there, but if the slight dizziness and pains in his stomach said anything, he'd probably been there for a good while. He tapped his foot, glaring at the steel door in front of him, as if that would somehow magically burn through it. He sighed, leaning back into the chair and closing his eyes. His wrists hurt from being cuffed behind him so long, and his arms ached lightly. He rolled his shoulders. It was boring, but tense. At any moment someone could come through that door, and he had no idea what would happen then.

More waiting. Minutes ticked by slowly. Suddenly, he heard voices and footsteps approaching. He tensed up, staring at the door. There was a jingle of keys, and the door clicked open. The door opened, and standing there, was The Judge, flanked by two henchmen.

"Oh great. Its the crazy bastard and his posse." Jackson growled. The Judge smirked at him.

"Let's see how long you can keep up that kind of talk." He replied, gesturing to one of the henchmen. The man walked forward, taking a strange metal clasp out of his pocket. It looked like a much wider handcuff, and there was a small red light on the front. Jackson kicked at the man as he approched, but his foot was caught, and the clasp was clapped over his ankle. He kicked at the henchman again, but he backed out of range and back to The Judge's side.

"Well I'm sure you're wondering what that is, so why don't I show you?" He said, pulling a small black rectangular object out of it. He pressed down on a button on it, and Jackson let out a pained yelp as electricity coursed through his body, leaving him slightly numb. He gritted his teeth, glaring at The Judge.

"You fucking bastard." Jackson growled. The Judge chuckled maliciously before walking up to him, just out of kicking range.

"Now, I have a couple questions I want you to answer for me." He said.

"Like hell I wou-" Jackson began to retort, but was cut off by another jolt of electricity. He clenched his fists, gritrimg his teeth and stopping himself from crying out. He'd dealt with worse.

"Wrong answer. Why not try again? I want to know if you have others with you, and where they are if you do." The Judge said.

"No." Jackson replied bluntly, staring into his eyes. The Judge sighed, gesturing to one of the henchman with a hand. The henchman stepped over to Jackson, and slammed a fist into his stomach. Jackson slumped forward slightly, gasping for air. The henchman puched him before kicking the chair over, sending him to the floor and kicking him a few times. The Judge motioned for the henchman to stop, which he did, although not before giving Jackson one last stomp to the chest.

"You know I could be doing much worse to you, correct? If you decide not to comply, there will be dire consequences." He said, leaning down at him. Jackson stiffened up before taking a deep breath.

"Do your worst." He said confidently. The Judge raised a brow. He shook his head, standing back up and reached into his pocket, pulling out a sharp butterfly knife and flicking it open.

"Very well then. Henchman, hold this for me, would you? He said, handing one of the men the button. He stepped forward, kneeling next to Jackson. The Judge looked him over once, before raising his arm and stabbing the knife into his shoulder. Jackson cried out, before shutting his mouth and breathing hard. The Judge pulled the knife out, eliciting another hiss of pain from Jackson, before dragging it across his cheek. A thin line of blood dripped from the wound.

"This could have been so much easier for you. But you just had to make this harder on yourself, didn't you?" The Judge said, flicking a hand to the henchman holding the button. He nodded, pressing it a few times and sending another wave of shocks through Jackson. He shook, grasping his hands into fists.

"We're going to have a lot of fun here. Well...at least I am." The Judge laughed.


	46. Pecking for information

Noah stepped outide into the back of the school, looking around. Quickly enough, he found nonother than JJ laying face down on the dirt in front of Dandy's pen. Dandy was walking around, pecking at JJ occasionally. Noah jogged over, sitting down onto his knees and tapping their head.

"Hey JJ, you ok?" He asked. JJ let out a loud, and very long groan, not saying anthing coherent.

"Oh. Ok. I guess that's probably a no then." Noah said. He layed down next to them, attempting to take a look at their face. They mumbled something muffled before digging into their pocket and tossing some feed from it to Dandy, who quickly went to work on it.

"Uhhh, you're going to need to say that without having your face buried in dirt." Noah said. JJ groaned again, but turned their face to him.

"I don't fuckin know. I've just been thinking too much." They said. Noah raised his brow at them.

"What about?" He asked. JJ's eyebrows furrowed, eyes darkening slightly. They turned over onto their back, staring into the sky.

"I dunno. Just a lot of stuff. Like, how are we gonna get everyone out safely? And, like, I don't even know what the hell is gonna happen if I lose my moms. I don't wanna get passed around homes again." They replied. Noah frowned, reaching over and patting their shoulder.

"What's with that whole thing anyway? You never really explained about that whole thing with how you hpt to them and stuff." Noah then froze for a second.

"Oh wait, shoot, that's a sensitive subject, I shouldn't have asked." He said. JJ sighed, waving him off.

"Nah. It's fine. My moms found me in some parking lot somewhere and after they figured out that, yeah, this kids parents aren't coming back, they called the police to deal with me and whatever. Police passed me off to cps and they couldn't find my actual parents, so off to foster care or whatever I went. I jumped around a lot of homes. A lot of people didn't want me cause I was a problem child. Always getting in trouble and stuff. Had to get taken out of a couple homes cause they were abusive and whatnot. That went on, for like, three years before my moms were able to get custody of me. I was kinda aggressive for a while, not gonna lie, but they never blamed me for it. They helped me work that stuff out, and they never gave up on me. That was five years ago. I really can't imagine where I would be without them." They explained.

Noah stared for a second, taking the information in. He patted JJ's arm again.

"Don't worry, you'll see them again." He said. JJ nodde.

"They're not the only ones I'm worried about. Jackson is in there too. Who knows what the hell could be happening to him? It's been a near week. The Judge probably figured out who he is by now. I...shit dude, I dunno. Its my fault he got caught in the first place. Most of the guys can barely even look at me without being disappointed. Fuck." JJ groaned again, putting their hands on their face. Noah frowned, looking up into the sky.

"I'm sure it'll be back to normal soon. They just need to think out a plan." He said. JJ gave him a slightly disbelieving look before sitting up again, snapping their fingers. Dandy quickly ran over and hopped onto their lap. JJ ran their fingers across the soft feathers of the large chicken, and it leaned into their touch.

For a while, they stayed quiet. The only sound was the soft clucking of Dandy. Noah realized something. Around their neck was a small silvery necklace. A dog tag with their name carved onto it hung loosely at the end of it.

"Oh! JJ, where'd you get the necklace?" He asked. JJ looked confused, and paused for a second before realizing.

"Ohhhh, yeaaaahh. Remember that scrap I was always fiddling with? Yeah, well, I made it into a dog tag. Thought it would be cool, and my mom always wanted to do that with it, so I figured why not?" They replied.

"Oh! Its cool."

"Hell yeah it is." The two laughed. Worry seemed to seep away from the situation as JJ relaxed. That is until they yawned and Dandy decided it would be fun to stick her head in their mouth. Noah nearly had a hysterical breakdown while JJ attempted to scold the chicken. Which did not seem to be doing much of anything.


	47. Only a week

Jackson's eyes opened once again to the plain stone room. He still had no idea how long it had been. Days or weeks, he didn't know. Impossible to tell since he wasn't exactly above ground as of right now. His entire body hurt, mostly his shoulder. The wound there had a nasty scab now. Cuts and bruises littered his body in ragged patterns. He was absolutely exhausted, as the only sleep he seemed to get was when he passed out after a "session" with The Judge. Shit food too, if any. The only thing he could do to pass time was think. If he was a normal person he probably would have broken by now. Luckily, he wasn't. He was a trained super spy. He knew how to deal with this much better than some others could. He was trained for it.

He gripped his hands into fists, glaring at the wall. If The Judge thought he was going to give up like that, then he had another thing coming. He pulled himself from the ground up onto shaking legs, walking to the door. He had checked multiple times before, but there was no harm checking again. Feeling along the wall and door for cracks or dips that might be of use for escape, there was still nothing. This place didn't seem to rely on too much technology, so that wasn't something he could use to help him. He backed away from the door again, letting himself slide down the wall. A sudden shock came from the device around his ankle, causing him to let out a surprised yelp of pain. That damn thing was still there, and The Judge decided it would be fun to leave the control for it with the goons guarding his room. Fucker.

Jackson continued waiting, trying to sleep occasionally. Although whenever he did start to drift off, another shock would rip through his body from the device. He'd given up trying to get it off at this point. Touching it would send a much more powerful shock into him than what the contol for it could do. He heard footsteps, and immediately tensed, backing away from the door. There was the sound of jingling keys, and the door opened. Sure enough, there was the head fucker of the whole thing, along with two goons. The usual.

"Back for more? I would have thought you would have learned you can't break me by now." Jackson said venomously. The Judge made a small clicking noise with his tounge.

"And you still have the attitude. How...interesting. I commend you for making it this far. Most of the people we've kept here have broken within a few days. You made it through an entire week." He said, clapping slowly as he approached. Ah, so it had been a week. Felt like longer.

"Yeah, well, I think you'll find that secret agents are trained to deal with that very easily. You aren't the first one who's electrocuted me." Jackson growled. He almost laughed at the memories of when he would go through the lie detector tests with Ruby. Those were painful.

"Mmmm. All the more fun to be had then. I look forward to the day you finally break." The Judge said. Jackson pushed himself from the wall, standing up and glaring defiantly at him, fists clenching.

"I wouldn't look forward to it. It's not happening. Before you know it my team is going to be knocking on your door and breaking all of your shit. Just you fucking wait." He said. The Judge sighed gesturing to him with a hand. The goons walked over, grabbing him. He kicked and struggled before a shock went through him, and he went limp for a second. The Judge looked him over.

"I think we had enough fun with knives before. I decided we're going to do something a little different this time." He said, pulling a lighter from his pocket. Jackson froze, staring at it before his gaze went back to The Judge. He flicked it open before turning it on. He held his hand out, pushing the flame to Jackson's neck. He growled in pain, gritting his teeth. He wasn't going to give The Judge the satisfaction of his pain. The Judge only laughed at him.


	48. Scars of the past

JJ glared at the picture on the screen in front of them, tilting their head and turning it back and forth. Their eyebrows were furrowed, and their hand that wasn't holding the phone was tapping furiously at their leg. They groaned, collapsing backward onto their bed and tossing an arm over their eyes. On their phone was the picture of The Judge from the news article. They had been staring at it for almost half an hour by now. Something was tugging in their gut about him, but they couldn't place it. Something was pushing at their memory, but every time they seemed to be close to figuring out what it was, it slipped away once again. It frustrated them to absolutely no end. They had studied that photo for the last week, but still nothing. They knew they were getting closer.

JJ heard the sound of someone landing on the ground in The Playground. They peeked out from under their arm at the person. It was Julio. He waved over at them, and JJ made a small greeting with their arm that wasn't quite a wave. Julio trodded over to them.

"Hey JJ. What are ya doing down here? You haven't gone out of The Playground a lot lately. What's up?" He asked. JJ made a loud noise that was a cross between a scream and a groan of frustration. They waved the picture at him.

"This guy. This motherFUCKER has something that I KNOW is familiar. Every single red ass flag is waving like one of those fucking blow up doll things that flail around when they have air pushed in em." They answered.

"You really shouldn't swear that much."

"Fuck you." The two stared at each other for a second, before Julio sighed and plopped down next to them. JJ clicked their tounge before raising their arms above their head and stretching. Julio's attention was suddenly drawn to the skin that showed from under their shirt as it rode up slightly. There were pale, almost unnoticeable scars marking it. Julio's eyebrows shot up.

"JJ, what are those?" He asked. JJ looked at him, confused, before looking down to where their shirt rode up, and realization dawned on their face.

"Oh. Yeah. Those." They said, looking uncomfortable. They chewed on the inside of their cheek.

"Just some scars. I got passed around a lot of homes for three years before I landed with my moms. Many of said homes weren't exactly all that kind. These are kinda just mementos of that. Most of them healed up pretty well luckily." They said.

They grabbed the bottom of their shirt, pulling it up more. Scars littered their body, most of them could only be seen when looking closely, but there were a few very noticeable ones. Julio froze, eyes widening. He took JJ's hands gently into his. Now that he had noticed, he started to see more scars that went up and down their arms. He had never noticed them before now.

"Ay, Dios mío. Who in the world would do this to a child?" Julio breathed quietly. JJ shrugged looking away.

"Dunno. Just some fucking asswipes. Probably in jail now. I got a big one on my back from one...of...them..." They answered, slowing down near the end. Their face dropped and their pupils suddenly shrunk into pinpricks.

"Oh...oh god." They said. Julio looked at them, worried.

"JJ, are you alright? What's wrong?" He asked, grabbing their shoulders. JJ looked into his eyes, terror in their eyes.

"I...I think...oh god. I'm remembered where I knew this guy from. Oh fuck. Shit." They fell back onto their bed, looking at the picture again. Julio sat next to them, placing his hand on their shoulder.

"What? Where did you know him from?" He asked. JJ took a deep, shuddering breath.

"This was one of the guys I got passed to. He...was an abusive fuck. I got a big scar from him on my back. Shiiiiiiitttt. This asshole nearly killed me when I was younger." They said, looking up at Julio. He balked, stiffening up. JJ was shaking, wrapping their arms around themselves. Julio wrapped his arms around them and pulled them in for a hug. That was all he could really do.


	49. Electricity

{Trigger warning for this chapter for torture! Please skip it if you are triggered or uncomfortable!}

Jackson pulled against the metal holding him again, to no avail. He had been cuffed to the chair again when he had taken down four goons and nearly escaped. The room was still dark as ever, the only light coming from the bottom of the door. He shifted again when he heard the jingling of keys, and flinched at the sudden burst of light from the doorway. He growled when he saw the smug face of The Judge.

"Hey fucker. Come to try and fail to make me talk again?" Jackson said. The Judge chuckled, walking in.

"Ever the confident one, aren't you?" He said.

"I try to be." Jackson replied. The Judge came close to him, examining the wounds he had inflicted before pulling a small remote from his pocket. It seemed to be different than the other one he had before.

"I don't see why we should hold off any longer. You know why we are here, now don't you? Couldn't you give up already and make this easier on both of us?" He asked. Jackson sneered at him, leaning forward.

"You wish. Like hell I would give in for you." He said. The Judge sighed, pressing down on the button. Jackson jerked, gritting his teeth. The electricity was starting to loose its effect from how much it had been done lately. Although, that might just have been the aches of all the other injuries he had. The Judge waved the remote.

"We recently had an upgrade on this little device. Isn't that fun? Now I can do this." He said. He slid something up in the remote, and pressed it again. Jackson let out a cry before shutting his mouth. Yeah, he had definitely felt that one.

"You fucking asshole." He growled. The Judge rolled his eyes, pushing the slider on the remote up again.

"Is that the only insult you have?" He asked, pressing the remote again. Jackson grit his teeth, gripping onto the chair he was cuffed to. His body was shaking slightly as his vision blurred for a second.

"Oh I have plenty. But there are more important people I could waste them on." Jackson said shakily, an attempted smirk on his face. It looked more like a cringe. The Judge sighed once more, pushing the slider as high as it would go, before clicking something else and pressing the button. Jackson screamed as electricity rushed through his body, this time not stopping after a second. His vision got dark, and he slumped over as his body convulsed. The Judge put the remote back in his pocket.

The Judge walked in front of him, leaning down to his level.

"You are such a hard nut to crack. I wonder if your friends will be the same." He said, pulling out his knife and running it along Jackson's stomach. He attempted to retort, but the only sound that left was a low groan of pain. His entire body already was beginning to feel numb as the electricity continued to course through him. The Judge pulled the knife back, and stabbed it into Jackson's uninjured arm with a sadistic grin. Another cry of pain exited his mouth, but he bit his lip, making it begin to bleed. The Judge twisted it, making him whimper slightly, attempting to pull away. The Judge pulled the knife out as blood dripped from it. There was a small pop, and his eyebrows furrowed, looking down. The device around Jackson's leg was beginning to smoke. The Judge pulled the remote back out, flicking a switch on it and turning it off.

Jackson's chest heaved as he gasped for the air he didn't realize he had let go of. His eyesight was hazy, and he felt his consciousness slipping away from him every second. He barely had any strength left.

"Y-you're a sadistic motherfucker, you know that?" He said, stumbling words over his numb tounge. The Judge chuckled.

"In your words, "I try to be."" He replied. Jackson glared at him. The Judge ran his knife across his forehead, drawing blood as he went. Jackson hissed, biting his bleeding lip once again.

"I wonder...would you be less of a hassle to deal with if you couldn't see what was happening?" The Judge said thoughtfully. Jackson's eyes snapped open, and he jerked away, knowing exactly what he was insinuating. The Judge grabbed his jaw, holding him still and bringing the knife close to his eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it won't be too unpleasant." The Judge said, grinning.


	50. Interrupted sleep

JJ jolted, eyes shooting open. They scanned the area they were in frantically. They were still in The Playground. They were ok. They took a deep breath, rubbing at their eyes. They were exhausted, as recently, they had hardly been getting any good semblance of sleep. They reached over their bed, grabbing their phone amd checking the time. It was 4:36. They groaned, dropping the phone to the floor and falling back onto the bed and putting their hands on their face. For a minute, they stayed there, before finally pulling themselves up and leaving The Playground altogether. They walked down the halls of the school, bare feet padding softly along the cool tiled floor. They finally arrived at the front of the door, reaching out to push it open, when a voice chirped from behind them.

"And where, JJ, would you be going?" Benjamin asked, floating in place behind them. JJ froze, looking back before sighing with relief.

"Jesus fucking christ Benjamin. You nearly gave me a heart attack. Little warning next time?" JJ said, putting a hand on their chest.

"You didn't answer the question." Benjamin replied. JJ just shrugged, opening the door and holding it, allowing Benjamin to fly out into the dark front yard of the school after them. The sky twinkled with stars, the moon being almost at full.

"Can't sleep. Just going out for some fresh air. You know I can't leave anyway, since my upgrades aren't exactly there anymore." JJ said, jogging out and dropping down onto their back. Benjamin beeped a few times, hovering over their head.

"I have noticed. You have been wandering the school at the early hours very often lately. Is there a reason for this?" He asked. JJ closed their eyes, resting their hands onto their stomach.

"Just some nightmares. Not really bad. Just enough to wake me up at fuck o clock in the goddamn morning. Getting really tired of it. Literally." They growled. They grumbled something inaudible in german under their breath, chewing on their lip. They reached a hand over, pulling at the grass next to them. Benjamin flashed a few times, hovering closer.

"Ah. I see. I have a database on getting rid of nightmares and helping yourself fall asleep if you would like mr to give you some advice." He said. JJ sighed, opening their eyes. They waved him off, shaking their head.

"Nah. It's fine. Just gotta try to go back to sleep." They replied. They hefted themselves up, walking back over to the door of the school, and opening it.

"I'm just gonnna stay out here for a bit. Why don't you go back inside?" JJ said, gesturing in. Benjamin twittered for a second before flying in.

"Don't stay out too long. It's starting to get cold." He said. JJ stuck their tounge out at him, closing the door and walking back out. They plopped back down onto the grass, crossing their legs and putting their face in their hands. It was quiet save for the crickets and cicadas. If they looked closely, they could see a few fireflies glowing softly throughout the yard. They took their hands awat from their face, dropping them to the ground and digging into the dirt with their fingers as they turned their eyes into the sky. They groaned, pushing themselves up. They walked back over to the school, opening the door. No use staying out there. Hopefully their sleep wasn't interrupted this time.


	51. A new development

Jackson rolled his shoulders, immediately regretting it as pain shot through them, hands twitching in an attempt to let feeling back into them. He still thanked every god that might be out there that he still had his vision. He had passed out just before The Judge had driven the knife into his eyes. Must have decided it wouldn't be fun if he wasn't awake to feel him do it. He still didn't know how long it had been. It felt like forever. His whole body was almost in a constant state of pain. No doubt there would be multiple scars. He hoped that he would be getting out soon. The others were likely putting a plan together by now, although he knew it could take a while to push together all their assets. He was sure that by now, thinking of them was likely the only thing keeping him sane and fighting. As long as they were safe, and chances of rescue were still possible, he would keep strong. Although, he wasn't sure how long he could keep that attitude up.

The door suddenly clicked. He scowled, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as it opened. The Judge, like he expected, entered. It didnt seem he had any goons or anything of the sort this time, which was strange considering he usually had at least one guard with him when he came in at all times. He knew Jackson still had fight in him after all. The Judge had a wide grin on his face. Wider than usual. No doubt he was up to something.

"Fanfuckingtastic. You're here to visit little ol me again? Great. Just great. And no possy to follow you around this time?" Jackson spat. The Judge was not affected, simply shaking his head.

"No, not today. They are going and getting some tools to spiffy you up for tomorrow." He replied. Jackson's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He sat up straighter.

"And what the hell is supposed to be going on tommorow?" He asked suspiciously. The Judge grinned wider, clapping his hands together.

"Why I'm so glad you asked. You're going to be up on stage! We have two more candidates other than you as well. Although, they will be on the chopping block. I can't say I am unhappy with that. They have been as hard to work with as you! Such ferocity. You are not on the chopping block however. Say, have you ever been flogged? It's delightful. For the audience anyway." He said cheerfully. Jackson stiffened, shivering against his will. He grit his teeth against the fear, growling.

"Can't say I have." He ground out. The Judge laughed, waving him off.

"No need to worry. You will." He said. The door clicked again before opening, and he turned his head to look.

A nervous goon stepped through. He was easily 7'3 and a hulking mass of muscle, just like the others. There were freckles dotting across his cheeks and nose. He had dirty blonde hair buzzed down mostly, and dark grey blue eyes. He was pulling a bucket of water with a sponge and a small kit at his side.

"Ah...g-got the stuff boss." He stuttered. The Judge nodded, walking over and patting him on the arm, which seemed to make him tense up.

"Perfect. Would you mind cleaning him up? I have work to oversee. We can't have our little show falling to pieces now can we?" The Judge said. The goon gave a shaking nod, backing out of his path to the door. The Judge walked out, closing the door behind him. For a few seconds, it was dead quiet.

"Uh...sorry that he caught you. I'm scared of him too if that makes you feel any better."


	52. The plan

JJ twirled their necklace around their wrist as they sat nervously in the library with their legs crisscrossed on the chair. They had a few papers in front of them that they had messily written on. Some things had been scribbled on or erased, leaving the paper a muddled mess of varying colors of grey and white, striped with small blue lines. They stopped twirling the necklace, looking up to where Benjamin floated quietly.

"Uhhhh, hey Benjamin. How close are the guys?" They asked.

"Right outside the door now." He chirped as the door opened, right on cue. The team, including Noah, stepped through, walking over to them.

"Hey JJ! What did you call all of us in for?" Duncan said. JJ quickly grabbed the papers in front of them, looking between them before stacking them neatly.

"Oh, uh, well, I might have an idea? Or at least the start of an idea. It might not get Jackson out of there but it might help us in the long run." They replied.

The others eyes widened, and they looked between eachother for a second.

"Really? Give us the low down then!" Matilda said, grinning. JJ laughed slightly at the response before collecting themselves.

"Well, I was thinking...that...you know...maybe I could go over there and do some scouting? And no no, I know what you're going to say, and you don't need to give me my upgrades back. It'll be an in and out thing! Go in, pretend to be a hostage or whatever, look around, and get out. Simple! You guys can get me here then just stay off the roads and whatever so nobody sees you. You don't even need to stay if you don't want to. After you drop me off you can just go. The place is only about a two hours walk away. I've run farther than that on the daily back with my moms." They explained. However, as they ended the explanation, they went quiet.

They gripped their hands together as their eyebrows furrowed. They looked down, a dazed expression going over their face before shaking their head and looking up to the others for approval. All of them had similarly surprised and reluctant faces, looking between themselves. They obviously didn't really like the idea of JJ going off into the fray with no upgrades to protect them.

"Look...JJ, ok, yes, that may be a somewhat good idea, but that is still a dangerous plan with a lot of holes in it. How are you sure that they don't keep track of who are hostages or not? Do you know if specific groups of people are assigned to be guarded? Are you even sure that any hostages are going to be wandering around? Because one thing I learned when I was a villain, you never EVER let your hoatages wander around." Heathcliff said.

"Well that doesn't really count since the only time you ever took hostages was when you were in the arctic." Julio said. JJ looked at him, slightly bewildered.

"You were doing villainy in the fuckin arctic? Jesus." They said to Heathcliff. He rubbed his neck guiltily, laughing awkwardly. JJ looked around at all of them, including Ruby. She had stayed silent the entire time, which made them very tense. She suddenly shook her head, finally looking at JJ, which made them look down nervously.

"If they want to go, then let them. That's their choice. All they have to remember is stay safe and pull back if things get out of hand." Ruby said. The others looked at her, bewildered.

"Ruby, you're joking." Duncan said. Ruby looked at him.

"I don't think I've ever been one to joke Duncan." She said. The others looked back and forth between eachother nervously, obviously wanting to say something, but holding themselves back. Ruby turned on her heel, walking towards the door.

"We're going tomorrow. JJ, you better be ready." She said without turning her head. She then finally left, leaving the room a tense and still nervous mess.


	53. Mothers

Jackson once again kicked the kinks out of his legs, and made an attempt to stretch his arms as much as possible. The goon from before, who informed him his name was Paul, had cleaned him up a little, not exactly that he was complaining. At least he didn't have the torn and bloody clothes from before now. The caked blood was gone from his body, as well as most of the beard he had grown, although he kept a small bit of it. Despite this, he was still extremely tense. He knew exactly what was coming, presumably very soon. Plans whirred through his head, attempting to grasp onto one that might be conceivable to help him escape. Still nothing. With himself outnumbered a hundred to one, and having his upgrades off the table since his vest was taken, there wasn't much hope for him getting out of the situation. But he was a spy dammit. He would figure something out.

The time ticked slowly by, making him more and more tense every single minute. Time seemed to drag on for eons, although that wasn't exactly different than usual. It had a tendency to do that when you had zero indicators of what time it was. Suddenly, the door clicked open. He blinked against the invading light from the doorway as two gruff goons stepped through, walking to him briskly.

"Oh, no Judge today? Where'd the fuck go off to? Usually he comes in and you guys just follow him around like lost puppies." Jackson hissed sarcastically. One of the goons grunted in response, not saying anything, but unlocking the cuffs from his wrists, holding them firmly, before pulling them in front of him and clamping a slightly different pair on. Soon, he was being shoved roughly through the halls, stumbling more than a few times. He hadn't actually walked in about three full weeks.

They soon came to a cross, where another couple goons came in, escorting two other prisoners. Who they were, made Jackson immediately tense, eyes widening. The first was an extremely tall woman, quite obviously at about seven feet tall, towering above even the goons. She had dark skin, marred with wounds and bruises, and an afro of messy and tangled dark brown hair. Her chocolate brown eyes were alight with a determined fire, attempting to struggle away from her captors at every moment. It took two to hold her. The second was another woman, although this time very small. About Matilda's height, if not shorter. She had pale skin, similarly marked with signs of abuse, and platinum blonde hair that was slightly disheveled. Her sea blue eyes darted around, cool and calculated, obviously thinking up a plan. No doubt in his mind, those were JJ's moms. They had shown him a couple photos before.

The groups merged, continuing on their path to where they were going. Outside, presumably. Jackson nudged the taller woman.

"Hey, you're JJ's moms right? Don't worry, they're safe." He whispered over quietly. Both women immediately looked at him, eyes wide.

"You...know JJ? Oh thank god. I was worried out of my mind." The smaller one said, equally as quiet, leaning into her wife with a relived look. There was an obvious german accent in her voice. Jackson nodded.

"Yeah. Great kid. Reckless though. They tried to go after you after they saw you get taken." He said, chuckling very slightly.

"Sounds about right. They always did like going off and doing dangerous stuff." The taller one replied, a small smile coming to her face. Jackson could definitely see that. Always the brave one. Although that bravery could do more harm than good a lot of the time.

They suddenly stopped near what looked like a large elevator, and the three were pushed inside.

"You're waiting here. The boss will bring you up once he's done his introduction." One of the goons said gruffly. He pressed a button, and the doors slammed shut. It was quiet for a second, before the taller woman leveled a harsh glare at the door.

"Fuckers." She growled. They laughed, and the smaller one turned to him.

"I don't believe we've introduced ourselves. My name is Lina. That's Amelia. May I inquire yours?" She said. "Names Jackson. Nice to finally meet you. JJ was always talking about you." He replied. Amelia reached forward with a grin, shaking his hand.

"Likewise." She said before sitting back and looking at her wife again.

"Any plans there hun? You've been thinking for a while." She inquired. Lina shook her head with a frown and furrowed brows.

"Unfortunately not. I'm trying though. For now all we can do is wait. Hopefully we can think of something together."


	54. Coming with

"I'm coming with you."

"No. No you are not."

"I am."

"Noah, I am not gonna do this song and dance. You aren't coming with me. This is dangerous." The conversation between Noah and JJ was tense, with Noah standing straight with his arms crossed and a glare at the smaller child in front of him. JJ had similarly crossed arms, and their piercing eyes glared up at him. It was only a few minutes until the mission, and it was becoming quickly clear that Noah wasn't letting JJ go alone without a fight.

"JJ, being dangerous is exactly why I want to go with you! What if something happens and you get hurt? You're not gonna have anybody to help you! You don't even have your upgrades!" Noah cried. JJ rolled their eyes at him.

"I'll be fine. Its in and out, and I don't even need to get seen if I don't want to. I'm fine without the upgrades too. They're nice, but not necessary." JJ answered back. They turned around again, towards the small backpack they had on the table there and double checking what they packed.

Noah growled in frustration, running a hand down his face.

"That isn't the point JJ! It doesn't matter how careful you are! There's always a chance something could go wrong. And what are you gonna do then?" He said forcefully. JJ pulled the pack onto their back, turning back to him.

"Know what? Why don't we settle this with Ruby. She's the one in charge. And I'm sure she's going to agree with me." They said, walking down the hall. Noah gritted his teeth, following after them. They arrived into the main hall, where the others were waiting. Noah immediately ran over to his sister.

"Ruby! You can't let JJ go alone! I'm going with them!" He said. Ruby's face dropped, looking bewildered, as well as the others.

"What? No, you are most definitely not." She said. JJ gave a smug smirk at Noah, who glared at both of them.

"Its dangerous for them! What do you think is gonna happen if they get hurt? Do you want them to get captured like Jackson did?" He growled. That seemed to hit a nerve, as Ruby flinched slightly. JJ kept their face straight as guilt tugged at their gut harshly. That was their fault. Not his.

"I could say the same at you. If you go, and you get captured, I don't know what I would do." Ruby said. The others were looking back and forth between the three as the atmosphere became more and more tense.

"That would be a lot less likely if we had eachothers backs! JJ could watch the front, and I could watch the back so nobody sneaks up on us!" Noah replied. Duncan stepped in, hand raised nervously.

"Uh, well, if I could put in my own imput, I think sending Noah with them is a great idea. Sending JJ in alone just feel wrong. They might know how to fight, but they haven't been a spy for a good part of their life. Making them go solo isn't the best idea in my mind." He put in. Noah gave a smirk back at JJ, who stuck their tongue out at him.

Ruby put her hands on her face, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She took them away, staring at everyone. She sighed before steeling her expression.

"Alright. Who thinks Noah should go with JJ? Raise your hand." She said. Everyone but JJ and herself quickly raised a hand.

"Oh come the fuck on! You're kidding me. Ruby you aren't just gonna let him go with me like that are you?" JJ cried with an unhappy look. Ruby frowned, eyebrows furrowing. She walked forward and knelt in front of Noah, putting her hands on his shoulders.

"If I let you go, you need to PROMISE me that you are going to do everything in your power to stay safe. No going after fights, no trying to get in the way of anything, no nothing. I cannot stress this enough. I don't want you going there. Its nowhere near safe." She said. Noah nodded, making an x over his heart.

"Swear to god, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." He said with a small smile.

JJ watched, mouth agape. They suddenly rushed forward, sliding in front of Ruby with a look of pure horror.

"You aren't serious! No way. Noooooo way. Nuh uh. You can't!" They cried in a distressed tone, looking for help among the others. Ruby shook her head with a frown.

"I don't like it either. But I am. Noah, you'll share JJ's pack." She said. JJ stared on, gaping like a fish. They hardly registered anything up until they were flown over the wall by Matilda, and hopped in the van outside with the others, beginning their drive down the road.

"Don't worry. If anything goes bonkers, we're going to be fairly close. Just far enough so nobody is able to find us. We'll be able to come to your aid if something happens." Heathcliff said on the way. Noah made a sound of affirmation, but JJ didn't answer, only having their head in their hands and worrying internally.


	55. Talking in the elevator

The minutes ticked by quickly with people to talk to. It was nice to actually talk to people who didn't want to hurt him in any way. Amelia and Lina were both very nice women obviously still head over heels in love with eachother. It was endearing in all honesty.

"And they just jumped right in after the damn thing! I tried to tell them "no JJ, you can't catch a turtle with your bare hands once its escaped into the pond" but they kept going after it! It took an hour but they actually caught it in the end. We were definitely surprised." Amelia was telling one of many stories she could tell about JJ, Lina, and herself. So far she had told four. Jackson laughed at the thought of JJ splashing through a pond after a turtle.

"They really seem to love you so much." He said. The two women nodded, but Lina suddenly seemed to grow downtrodden.

"It...wasn't always like that." She said quietly. Amelia nodded with a frown, putting her hand on her wife's shoulder.

"When we first got them...they were...well, distrustful at the extreme best, and flat out violent at worst. They had no trust or love to give after everything that happened to them. It was...a long, long, long time to even get them to remotely trust us. They got scared and defensive if one of us so much as reached a hand towards them at first. They couldn't stand being touched or being in closed off spaces. They always the doors in the house open whenever possible. They hoarded food and water in their room and walked around as quietly as possible for the longest time. Any time we confronted them about it they would lash out. They had a lot of therapy done with them, which I would say helped. It was a slow climb, but we got there. You have no idea how happy it made us to see our little wunder come this far." Lina explained. Jackson nodded his head in understanding. The thought that they had ever been abused that much to make that kind of an effect punched him in the gut quite painfully.

Jackson scanned the room they were in again, looking for any type of exits. Still nothing there. He sighed, frowning.

"How did you get caught?" he asked. Amelia chewed on the side of her cheek at the question.

"It all went downhill when the robot came in. JJ had gone out for a bit, and we were watching the news. We saw what was happening, and we rushed off to find them. We weren't very lucky, so we ended up being captured." She said. Jackson blinked for a second.

"Hold on...that's right! He used to use robots didn't he? Why would he stop using them? " He said, tapping his thigh in thought. Lina opened her mouth to speak, but the elevator suddenly jerked, and a loud whirring sound echoed through it. Slowly but surely, they began to feel it begin to move upwards. The three exchanged a few worried looks, glancing around the room as if some miracle would show itself to them.

Unfortunately, there was no miracle there to save them. In a minute, the doors in front of them slid open, bright sunlight flooding in and making them flinch away. A few goons stepped in, grabbing them before stepping out into the light. They were standing in some sort of dirt courtyard of some kind, and in front of them, was a large wooden stage with a pole sticking upwards into the sky in the middle of it. Standing on it and shouting out to the front of the stage, was The Judge. More sharply dressed than usual. The goons shoved the three up a few stairs and onto the stage, revealing that in front of them, was a giant crowd of goons, henchmen, minions, and hostages alike. All of whom were looking up at the man. He stopped for a moment, turning as he heard them walk up the stairs. He grinned when he saw them.

"Ah! Finally here are you? Well I'm sure the crowd will be quite pleased!" He said loudly, as much to the crowd as it was to them. He walked to them before leaning over into Jackson's ear.

"I'm sure this will be very, very fun." He hissed menacingly. He grabbed Jackson's face in his hand, smirking.

"Such a shame such a pretty face has to be wasted." He chuckled. Jackson growled at him before spitting in his face.

"Go fuck yourself." He snarled. The Judge frowned, pulling his hand back and slapping him across the face, sending him reeling.

"We're going to have to teach you some manners now won't we?" The Judge asked. Amelia glared at him.

"You best leave him alone before I rip every limb from your puny fucking body and feed it to our chicken." She said venomously. The Judge shook his head disapprovingly.

"Unfortunately, you can't very well do that when you're dead, now can you?" He asked. There was a sudden shout from the crowd. A familiar voice. All too familiar. Jackson's heart stopped, and from the looks of it, Amelia and Lina's did as well.

"Hey! Leave them alone you pompous fucking asshole excuse for a human being!" Cried the voice. The Judge began to turn, and as soon as he did, a large rock smashed into his face, sending him sprawling to the ground. The one who threw it, was nonother than JJ.


	56. Drawing attention

JJ shifted in their seat, staring out the window at the outside. They could feel their heart rising into their throat more and more as they drew ever closer to their destination. The others were talking about something or other, but JJ had drowned them out a long while ago.

"Hey. We're almost there. Get ready." Duncan said. He was the one driving at the moment. JJ nodded to him, unlocking the door and double checking their pack to make sure they had everything. Eventually, they saw the beginnings of a town in front of them, and the car slowed.

"Ok. This is the place. You two better be careful alright?" Matilda said, craning her neck to the two. They nodded, and hopped out.

"Good luck." Heathcliff called as the two began to walk down the road and into the town. The entire thing looked like a complete hell hole. Buildings were broken down and had fallen into disrepair, and if they looked closely, they were sure they could definitely see some blood spatters.

The two went from alley to alley as quickly and as quietly as possible. JJ peered around the corners and gestured to Noah when the coast was clear. They slid into another alley, and JJ suddenly grabbed Noah.

"Hey, I know out of all the times I could say this, this is probably the worst time, but if anything happens I want you to take my watch and fucking book it. I want you to leave me behind if anything happens because if you leave me behind you might have a chance of getting out. Use that sos signal that's on there, ok? Please just promise me this." They said. Noah stared at them, bewildered. He then frowned before shaking his head and glaring.

"I would never leave you if something happened! You're my friend, JJ. Friends don't leave friends behind." He answered. JJ rubbed a hand on their face, gritting their teeth.

"Noah-" They froze, standing straight up and putting a finger to their mouth. Voices echoed from the street beside them.

JJ peeked around the corner, scanning the road. A large group of hostages were being escorted somewhere by a few armed henchmen. Noah and JJ looked at eachother before JJ leaned into Noah's ear.

"When they pass, lets mingle with them. I want to know where they're going." They said quietly. Noah nodded to them, and the two crouched out of sight, waiting for them to pass. As soon as they did, JJ made a hand motion and quickly shot into the crowd, mingling easily. Noah followed, coming into step right behind them. The group didn't even seem to notice them. They continued down the road until they reached some sort of stage. JJ's stomach dropped when they saw The Judge standing on it. The stage was surrounded by different groups of hostages and guards and whatnot. Something was happening. And they didn't like it. They scanned around, looking for an exit should things go south. Noah had a nervous grip on their hand, which they squeezed reassuringly.

"Ladies and gentlemen. I'm sure all of you are quite excited for this months entertainment session! Are you not? Well, today we have not one, not two, but three participants! These three have been...a nuisance, to say the very least. Today we will be rid of two of them. The other, however, we are keeping. As of late, I have been quite interested in breaking him. Although he seems quite determined. No matter, we shall see if we can take that out of him." The Judge called to the crowd. Most of them whistled and cheered in approval. Mostly henchmen and goons of the like. JJ cringed. What poor guys were going to be put up there? And what would they do to them? They hated to think of it as their stomach dropped further. A few goons walked up from behind the stage, pushing three people up a few stairs and onto it. The world around them seemed to freeze as their attention focused on those three people. Their moms, and Jackson. Their heart began to pound in their chest, and their throat closed. Their grip on Noah's hand became like a vice as their eyes widened.

"Ah! Finally here are you? Well I'm sure the crowd will be quite pleased!" The Judge said loudly. He then went over to the three and began to speak to them. At that point, JJ's mind went into overdrive. They needed to get them out of there. But how? They gripped their head, looking down as tears clouded their vision. They felt useless without their upgrades. If they had them, then no doubt they could get out easily. Their foot bumped against something, which they drew their attention to. A large rock. Their eyes widened, and they looked at Noah. A plan had already formed as soon as they saw it. Noah saw their gaze on the rock and then him. He shook his head, panicked.

"JJ, no, don't." He hissed quietly to them. They weren't listening. They leaned down and grabbed it. Hopefully a distraction would be enough.

"Hey! Leave them alone you pompous fucking asshole excuse for a human being!" They called out. As soon as The Judge turned towards them, they let the rock go flying. It struck hard and true, sending the man to the ground. JJ grinned as Noah looked at them in horror. JJ's happiness quickly turned to horror as well as they saw that everyone's attention was now on them. They laughed nervously.

"Hahaha...fuck."


	57. Bang bang

The world was frozen. Noah and JJ were frozen in fear. Jackson, Amelia, and Lina were staring at the two in bewilderment and horror. The Judge was on the ground completely unconscious, a large bruise beginning to form on the side of his forehead. Jackson suddenly realized that the grip on him was loose. He steeled himself, pulling forward before smashing his head back into the goons chin. Amelia and Lina took advantage of their goons surprise, and whirled around, sending a few powerful punches to their faces and sternums. The goons fell and the three rushed to eachother.

"Alright. You two grab JJ and Noah. I'll distract them." Jackson said. The two women gave him worried looks, but nodded, turning around and sprinting to jump off the stage, where the two children in question were being surrounded. Amelia burst through the crowd with Lina immediately behind her, and hefted the children onto her shoulders with no problem.

"Mom! Mutter! We can't leave Jackson!" JJ cried as they began rushing away from the stage. The two shook their heads.

"Sorry sweetie. We need to run. You two are the priority right now." Lina said. JJ looked up to where Jackson was as he backed away from a few goons approaching him. JJ let out a noise of distress and flailed in an attempt to work themselves out of their mom's grasp. It worked, and they fell forward and onto their hands before launching themselves forward as soon as their feet hit the ground. They crossed the distance to the stage in a few seconds, jumping and rolling onto it, quickly darting over to the goons advancing on Jackson before taking them down with a few swift attacks. They turned to Jackson before running to him and wrapping their arms around him.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. We can't leave you. Please, we can't leave you. Not like last time." They said quietly. Jackson frowned, brushing their hair away from their face.

"It's ok. It'll be fine. You just need to run." he replied, looking up. Amelia was running towards them through the crowd, shouting for JJ.

Jackson grit his teeth, picking them up before running to the edge of the stage and tossing them over the edge into their mom's waiting arms. JJ let out a distressed cry as they weaved back into the crowd and away from him.

"No! Wait! Jackson! Nooooo!" They screamed, kicking at her mom. She winced at the pained scream, reaching the edge of the crowd where Lina waited, holding Noah.

"Alright lets go." Amelia said hurriedly, sprinting down the road with Lina on her heels. Loud shouting came from behind them as a group of goons followed them. They shot down the road, twisting and turning in an attempt to loose the goons, but a sudden loud gunshot rang through the air. Blood and grey matter flew from the front of Lina's head as she collapsed, dead before she hit the ground. JJ and Noah screamed in horror.

"MUTTER!!!!" JJ screeched. Amelia nearly froze, a loud sob coming out of her throat, but she grabbed Noah and continued running, a slew of curses coming out of her mouth.

They continued to run, not stopping. JJ was sobbing loudly, muttering unintelligible choked words in german. Noah reached over and grabbed their hand, squeezing it. Another gunshot rang through the air, and Amelia stumbled, falling over. Blood poured from the wound in her neck as she choked on her own blood. JJ let out a horrified and heartbroken screech, wrapping their arms around her.

"MOM! NO! PLEASE NO! DON'T LEAVE ME!" They cried. Noah had covered his mouth, closing his eyes and turning away from the body. He heard more gunshots, and he stumbled back when a few shot at his feet. He whipped around, grabbing JJ's hand and pulling them up.

"We need to go! Come on!" He yelled as he pulled them down the road quickly as he could. Tears were streaming down JJ's face as they looked back, onto the corpse of their mom. They sobbed, closing their eyes and depending on Noah to lead them.

Gunshots continued to ring out through the mostly empty roads as the two sprinted their way to the place where their friends were. Another gunshot, and JJ suddenly stumbled, tripping over their own feet and giving out a loud cry and clutching their side.

"JJ! What's wrong?" Noah asked, panicking. However, the answer was quickly made clear as he saw blood beginning to stain their red tank top an even deeper crimson.

"Oh no. Oh no. Oh no no no no no. JJ, we can't stop here. Hang on." He said.

"Fuck. Fucking shit. Oh good lord. That hurts like hell. Fuuuccckkk. We need to keep going." JJ said, heaving themselves to their feet despite every move making pain emanate from the wound. They wrapped an arm around Noah's shoulders, and the two flipped around a corner and into an alley. The goons ran right past them by some miracle. JJ was hissing and shuddering in pain, attempting to activate the sos signal with shaking hands.

They eventually pressed the button, sighing in relief.

"Alright. Awesome. Hope you don't mind, but I'm konking out for now. Nighty night." They said, beginning to blink their eyes closed as the world was turning dark.

"JJ! No! Wake up! JJ don't you DARE fall asleep! JJ! JJ!" Noah cried, grabbing their shoulders and shaking them hard. JJ's eyes shifted to him slightly before they drifted shut, going completely limp. Noah kept trying to wake them up. Over, and over, and over. They still didn't wake up. Nothing did. Not when the others finally arrived. Not when Heathcliff did his best to close the wound and stop the bleeding. Not when they were put in the car to begin their drive back to the base. Not when Noah was crying for them to wake up. They were dead to the world. Barely even alive. It wasn't even clear if they would be able to survive the night, or the day leading up to it. All any of them could do, was wait for them to wake up. If they ever even did, that is.


	58. Bloody whip

{Big big torture warning for this chapter! Please skip if you are triggered or uncomfortable!}

Jackson watched Amelia and JJ sprint back out of the crowd, disappearing quickly into the streets. He prayed to every god out there that they would be able to make it out alive. A force on his back sent him crashing to the ground suddenly, and someone was pushing his face into the ground. He growled.

"Hey! Let me the fuck go you piece of shit! I'm gonna kick your ass!" He snarled, kicking at the person holding him down. A pair of shoes walked into his vision, standing over him. He didn't even need to look up to know it was The Judge.

"Well well well now. You have certainly been an absolute pain these last few minutes. A shame, really. I had planned on going easier on you today. Unfortunately, that isn't the case now. You've made us loose some of our participants. Now we have to go through the whole process of finding them, along with those...other children." He lamented, pacing back and forth ever so slightly. There was a strained tone in his voice, signaling that he had likely lost his composure a good bit.

"Don't you fucking touch them." Jackson growled, straining against his captor. The Judge sighed.

"Still so violent. How...annoying. Goon, to the post please." He said, waving a hand. Jackson was hefted onto his feet violently and shoved back towards the large post that came from the stage, before his shirt was pulled off, and he was chained to it. He kicked backwards at the goon who had done it, although he unfortunately didn't hit due to the goon backing out of his range. The Judge turned to the crowd, walking to the edge of the stage.

"Now then, I'm sure that despite this little debacle, we can still have some fun. What do all of you think?" He asked them. Most of the goons and henchmen called out in affirmation, while the hostages stayed mostly quiet. The Judge smiled, turning back to Jackson. He held a hand out to one of the goons, who handed him a long, spiked whip, unfurling it as he did so.

"Well now, why don't we get down to business?" He asked, raising his arm.

The first lash came down, and Jackson let out a small cry of pain and surprise, before quickly gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, determined not to give The Judge the satisfaction of seeing him in pain. Another lash went across his back, and he let a small hiss out through his teeth, trying to steady his breath and block it out. Another couple lashes, and he was unable to keep a gasp of pain from coming out of his mouth. A few gunshots rang out in the distance, which was enough to distract him from the pain for a moment. He hoped that wasn't what he thought it was. Eventually he lost track of time, although he knew it couldn't have been that long, occasionally letting out a cry or hiss of pain against his own will. He felt warm blood flowing down his back from the stinging wounds, making crimson trails down his body. A few footsteps came across the stage, dragging something. He opened his eyes slightly, looking over. His stomach dropped at what he saw.

"Oh my. Finally catch them, did you? Its about time." The Judge said, stopping his onslaught for a few moments. Standing to the side, was a small group of henchmen, holding the bodies of both Amelia and Lina.

"Fuck...no..." Jackson said quietly. The Judge walked forward, kneeling down to the bodies.

"And these are the only ones you found? If I remember correctly, there were two more. Children. Did you not get them" He asked. The henchmen looked at eachother before shaking their heads.

"No sir. They got away. Caught one of em in the side though. Tiny little fucker. I don't think they'll be livin' much longer." One said.

"No...no no no no no! You motherfuckers! I'm gonna beat the shit out of all of you!" Jackson yelled out angrily, straining against his bindings as tears started welling up into his eyes. The Judge raised his brows, rolling his eyes with a sigh before getting up and walking over to the struggling man.

"Hm. Its such a shame, really. Maybe if we had brought the children alive, we could keep you in line better." He said. Jackson spit at him, growling venomously.

"You fucking wish. Once I get out of these cuffs I'm going to rip you limb from limb and watch you bleed." He snarled, tears starting to roll down his cheeks. The Judge chuckled, shaking his head.

"My my. How ruthless. I doubt when you get out of those cuffs you'll even be able to move. Much less rip me limb from limb. An impossible claim." He said dismissively. He whirled the whip around for a second before bringing it back down. And so it went on. Jackson had no idea how long it lasted, but eventually his vision darkened, and he finally slipped into unconsciousness. He faded in and out for a while, hearing and feeling brief flashes of what was going on, but they didn't last long. The last thing he felt before passing out once and for all, was being sat in his little chair in the cell, and being once again cuffed to it. The only thing he knew after that, were the nightmares.


	59. Quiet talking

It was quiet, and the clock on the wall of the living room ticked away. Ruby sat silently on the couch of the room, flipping through a book. However much she usually liked to read, she wasn't able to get into it today. JJ was still not awake. They had survived the last night luckily, which was a miracle in and of itself. Considering that the wound they had was considerably deep. It had thankfully only grazed their side. If it had gone a little to the right it would have hit their vitals. Nobody was in a very chipper mood. Especially Noah. He had been fidgety and tense all day, and was constantly checking on his friend, hoping that when he came in they would finally wake up. Rain rattled the window as thunder boomed outside. Ruby sighed, placing a bookmark in the book and shutting it before dropping it to the side and standing up. She exited the room, aiming for the cafeteria to get some kind of coffee. She needed it. Walking down the halls, she saw Heathcliff plodding along the hall ahead of her. She sped up slightly, catching up to him.

"Hey." She said simply.

"Hey." He replied. It went quiet for a second, neither exactly knowing what to say. There wasn't very much they could in all honesty.

"So...how is JJ? Any progress with them?" Ruby asked quietly. Heathcliff shook his head remorsefully.

"Unfortunately not. They're just...completely asleep. I'm worried that they had bled out enough to send them into a coma. We're just lucky we staunched the bleeding and stitched up the wound in time to stop them from dying. A blood transfusion would be in order, but we don't have the tools to do it, and I don't know their blood type. The only thing we can do right now is pray." He said, crossing his arms as his eyebrows furrowed. Ruby frowned, nodding and looking forward again. They had already arrived at the cafeteria. She pushed open the door, holding it for Heathcliff.

"Want some coffee?" She questioned. He nodded, plopping down at one of the tables.

Ruby made her way into the kitchen, grabbing two mugs and using the coffee machine to brew a pot of it. She poured the drink, taking some creamer with her. She didn't exactly know what Heathcliff preferred it with after all. She walked over, sitting across from him and passing him a mug, along with the creamer. He took it with a grateful nod.

"Thanks." He said, pouring some creamer into the coffee before downing a few gulps.

"No problem." Ruby replied, sipping hers without using any creamer. A few minutes passed as they exchanged words, simply chatting about nothing in particular, when the door suddenly opened as Julio stepped through. Heathcliff waved and Ruby nodded in acknowledgement.

"Ruby made some coffee if you want some." Heathcliff said. Julio smiled, nodding before going to grab some. He came back into the room with a cup of coffee, undoubtedly filled with sugar. He put a bit of creamer in as well.

"Gloomy day, huh?" He lamented, looking out the windows.

"Yeah. Worst day in a long time as far as I've seen. Hopefully it doesn't take out the power." Heathcliff replied. Ruby hummed in agreement as she took another sip of the coffee.

"Hopefully. Although we do have backup generators, which is good." She said. The other two nodded.

"I would hate for the power to go off now of all times." Julio said. For a few minutes, it stayed like that. Heathcliff finished off his coffee, standing up.

"I need to go check on JJ again. They might be awake by now. Or at least I hope." He said. They exchanged a few parting words before he left. Ruby finished her coffee as well.

"I'm going to go sleep. Its pretty late by now." She said. Julio waved her a goodbye, and she walked out into the hall

She made her way to her room, quickly tossing herself onto her bed once she got there. She sighed, taking her glasses off and putting them to the side before throwing a hand over her eyes. She had tried to put it off, but guilt had caught up to her, settling deep into her gut. The reason JJ was injured like that was because she hadn't stopped them from doing it. She had known how dangerous it would be. Why didn't she stop them? She should have sent one of the others with them at the extreme least. She thought about it for a long while. The time ticked by, when she suddenly heard loud, fast footsteps shooting past her door. She blinked her eyes open, grabbing her glasses as she jumped up, going to the door. She opened it and looked down the hall where the footsteps went. She froze slightly as she saw a the familiar tiny form of a child with brown hair turning down the corner of the long hall. Another pair of footsteps came down the hall, and she looked over to them.

"Hey! You shouldn't be moving so much! JJ, get back here!" Heathcliff yelled out, coming to a stop in front of Ruby, keeling over onto his knees to catch his breath.

"They're awake? Why are they running?" Ruby asked, concern dripping from her tone. Heathcliff took another few deep breaths, holding a finger up to tell her to wait a second, before standing back up.

"I was in the room, and they just kinda woke up out of nowhere! They just dazed off for a minute before saying something in german, jumping off the bed, and running off." He said. Ruby's eyebrows furrowed as she thought for a second.

"Do...you think they remembered what happened and just needed to be somewhere else?" She asked. Heathcliff blinked at her before frowning.

"That's true. But they can't be running like that. They might open up their wound again." He said. Ruby rubbed her face.

"Alright. We need to find them. You look inside, and I'll look outside. They might actually attempt to get out of the base, even if they know that the only way through is over the barrier or through the gate." She said. Heathcliff's mouth set in a thin line as he nodded. The two separated to go their different paths, hoping that they could find the child.


	60. Cold hard truth

Jackson growled, lurching sideways again to no avail. After everything that had happened, he was still on edge and worried sick. The need to find a way out of this place was greater than ever now. He kicked back at the legs of the chair, attempting to jerk it loose from the ground. Still no progress. He closed his eyes, leaning back and taking a deep breath, despite the pain that shot through his back. The memories of the day before flashed through his head once again. He wasn't able to save any of them. Amelia and Lina were dead, JJ was more than likely dead as well, and he had no idea what had happened to Noah. He choked back a sob, taking another deep breath. He prayed that the two of them had escaped and were okay. He didn't know what he would do if they were dead. He shook the thoughts out of his head, steeling himself. He couldn't be thinking of that right now. He needed to find a way out first.

Hours passed uneventfully, as usual. Although, like expected, it didn't last. The door clicked, swinging open. He tensed, gritting his teeth and glaring ahead. The Judge stepped in, swinging some kind of dog tag necklace around his finger. He had a thoughtful look on his face.

"Hello. I don't have much time to be here, so I'm just going to get down to business. I have a small question I want to ask you." He said, striding forward. Jackson's eyes narrowed at him, clenching his fists.

"Like I would tell you anything. Fuck off and die a painful death." He snarled back. The Judge rolled his eyes, stopping the necklace from swinging, and catching the tag. He held it in front of Jackson's eyes, showing him the two small letters messily engraved onto it. He blinked at the tag, eyebrows furrowing.

"I found this little trinket near the stage. I was ready to simply throw it away, when I remembered a small little fact. If I'm correct, there were two children there that came to save you. I only remembered it when I saw this, but I would have to say, I remember one of them well. Tell me, do you know a child named JJ? And I wouldn't lie about this particular question if I were you by the way." The Judge said.

Jackson froze, tensing up more than ever. He pressed himself back into the chair, giving him a suspicious glare.

"And what is that information to you?" He hissed. The Judge glared slightly for a moment.

"That isn't an answer. I am simply curious, mostly due to the fact that it would be a quite interesting coincidence, if that child is who I think they are, that after seven years I actually find my past foster daughter once again." He replied. Jackson's eyes widened, and he had to force his jaw from dropping.

"Your foster...what the hell are you talking about?" He asked. The Judge sighed, rubbing his face.

"I'm assuming that from that look you're giving me that you do, in fact, know her. What an amazing development. That is all I needed to know." He replied, chuckling. Jackson's eyebrows furrowed as the fact struck him like a ton of bricks.

"What are you up to? The fuck do you plan to do with that information?" He ground out. The Judge simply shrugged, turning away from him and walking back towards the door.

"Now now, that would be telling wouldn't it?" He said, tugging open the door to the cell and stepping back through it. Jackson glared at the door. Once he got out this place, his first order of business would be to beat the everloving shit out of that monster of a man. He was planning something, that much was certain. What it was, however, wasn't clear. Jackson hoped he would be able to bust out of here soon enough to stop whatever plan The Judge was setting up, whatever it was.The information he had been given still had him reeling slightly. But at the same time, it was conceivable. He shook it off, trying to focus on something else. Like rescue. Rescue would be good right about now.


	61. Outburst

JJ had no idea how long they had been awake for. Maybe a couple hours. No way of telling unless they reached over and grabbed their phone to check. They hadn't moved from their spot on their bed since they had woken up. A heavy feeling had settled deep into their chest, preventing them from moving. They closed their eyes, counting away minutes. They eventually picked up the strength to push themselves out of the bed, falling heavily to the floor. They plodded to the exit of The Playground, quickly being shot up into the hall above. They walked slowly to the cafeteria in a tired haze, stepping through the doorway. As soon as they did, eyes fell on them.

"Oh, uh, good morning JJ. Feeling alright?" Heathcliff greeted. JJ stared at the man blankly, saying nothing, before continuing to where some food was placed, grabbing a plate and pushing a few things onto it. They felt someone tap their shoulder, and they looked over.

"Morning JJ. Wanna come eat with me? We can go out and play with Dandy after!" Noah said. There was a tone of concern evident in his voice. It was clear he was trying to see if he could get them to feel better.

JJ turned away, walking back towards the door. Noah blinked for a moment before quickly coming up and matching their pace.

"JJ? Hey, JJ, where are you going? Are you ok?" He asked.

"Go away." JJ said bluntly, speeding up. Noah looked at them in surprise before frowning.

"JJ, come on! Talk to me! Are you ok? I'm not just gonna leave you alone! You're my friend! And since you're my friend I'm gonna make sure that you're able to be happy! Maybe we can help y-" He said, reaching out a hand. As he continued, JJ's teeth grit harder and harder. They soon whirled around, plate clattering to the floor.

"I said. Go. AWAY!" They shouted, throwing a hard punch into Noah's face. He dropped to the ground, clutching the affected area as a few noises of surprise came from everyone in the room.

"JJ! No! What was that for? Apologize to Noah right now! Noah, are you ok?" Duncan cried, running up between the two. Noah's eyes were watering as a small trickle of blood came out from his nose. He looked bewildered and hurt, looking up at JJ.

"JJ, what was that for? Noah was asking if he could help you!" Ruby said, kneeling next to her little brother. She helped him up as the others stared at JJ in complete surprise.

"We know your recovering from yesterday, but that wasn't ok JJ. You can't do that." Julio stated. JJ looked down at Noah, eyes dropping slightly. They shook their head, turned on their heel, and sprinted out of the room as fast as possible, leaving the others speechless, only able to stare at where the child had disappeared from. Heathcliff quickly checked Noah's nose, ensuring it wasn't broken, before breaking off from the group to find JJ. He dropped down into The Playground, looking around. He didn't need to look far however, only needing to follow the soft melody of a music box echoing through the otherwise empty room. Laying down in the corner on their side, music box sitting in front of them, was the one he was looking for. Heathcliff walked over slowly and tensely, almost as if they were a time bomb set to blow at any second. JJ however, didn't even seem to acknowledge him. Heathcliff sat down on his haunches next to them, debating wether to touch them or not. He soon decided it wasn't a good idea.

"JJ? Are you alright?" He asked gently. Their eyes flicked to him for a bare second before going back to the music box in front of them. He sighed, running a hand back through his hair.

"Okay. Yeah. That's fine. You don't need to talk. I just wanted you to know that you can't just direct your anger at innocent people like that. Noah was trying to help you. I get that he wasn't leaving you alone, but you can't go punching people like that. But at the same time I know that you're going to be going through some really tough times right now. It'll be...hard, but if you ever need to talk about it, I'm always right here. I may not have gone through the same circumstances as you, but I can try to understand as best I can. I hope you know that." He said. JJ blinked slightly before clenching their eyes shut. But they finally nodded. Heathcliff hesitated a second before patting their shoulder. He stood up, walking over to the exit. He went to press the button, but jerked in slight surprise as he felt a pair of small arms wrap around his waist. He turned to look, but JJ had already began sprinting back to their bed. Heathcliff shook his head, a small smile on his face before pressing the button that sent him back into the school area.


	62. Friendly face

Jackson hummed quietly, staring at the ceiling from where he was. There wasn't much else to do. If nothing else, it annoyed the guards outside, which was always a plus, despite them delivering shocks to him if he did it too much. The Judge, surprisingly, hadn't been coming around as often as he would before. Recently, the goons would be doing most of the work. Although when The Judge did come around, no doubt he was harsher than he ever had been before. He was still in pain from the last time he had shown up. He cringed, shaking off the thoughts from his head. He went quiet again, closing his eyes for a moment. God he was tired. He couldn't remember the last time he had gotten actual sleep in this place. The only respite similar to that was still passing out. It was quiet for a while longer, until voices began talking outside. They were muffled, and he couldn't hear exactly what they were talking about, but he tensed up, ready for the worst if it was to come.

The door finally swung open, and Jackson blinked in surprise, relaxing slightly. It was Paul. Probably the only kind person he had ever met in this place.

"What are you doing here?" He asked. Paul closed the door, chewing on his cheek.

"Ah, well, you see, um, I was watching when the flogging was happening, and I saw the little kid come up and hug you. I just thought they were close to you, so I have some things to tell you." He replied. Jackson jerked up, eyebrows raising.

"You know something about them? Do you know if they're ok?" He asked quickly. Paul cringed, looking back at the door before shushing him.

"Please be quiet. I don't want the other guys to figure out I'm doing this. The boss would have my head if he got word. Quite literally if I know anything about him." He said. Jackson nodded, shutting his mouth.

"I think the kid might be ok. I was following behind them for a bit. I was luckily able to keep up even when the others weren't. I saw a van drive up and a couple people came and got the both of them. I think they were the NERDS from what I've heard about them. Your friends." He explained. Jackson let out a long breath of relief. He would have grabbed his chest if his hands weren't still shackled tight behind him.

"Oh thank god. I...jesus fucking god I was so scared." He said, tension seeping out of him in waves. Paul smiled sympathetically before seeming to remember something.

"Oh, wait, I uh, thought you might want this." He said, reaching into his pocket. From it, he pulled a familiar dog tag necklace with those two, small, messy letters carved into it. The same necklace he had glaced at when it was dangling from it's owners neck as they were pulled away from him.

"JJ's necklace." He breathed. Paul blinked, looking at the object.

"That was the kid's name? JJ? Well, I mean, I guess that's a stupid question. It's on the tag. Just had to ask." He said as he wrapped it up and slid it into Jackson's pocket. He nodded.

"Yeah. That's their name. They're a great kid, but holy hell are they reckless." He chuckled and shook his head, a smile on his face. Paul gave a small, nervous smile back before standing straight up and looking back at the door.

"Alright. I gotta go now. I have watch duty in a couple minutes. Don't let the boss know I gave that to ya. I'm just lucky he didn't care enough to keep it." He said. Jackson nodded in acknowledgement. Paul began walking towards the door, but stopped when he heard Jackson speak again.

"Hey, uh, I really need to thank you. It means a lot." He said. Paul gave him a small, awkward thumbs up before opening the door and exiting the room. The door clicked closed, and Jackson let out another long breath, leaning back in the chair.


	63. Fighter, not a lover

Ruby groaned, rubbing her face as she stared at the papers strewn across the table in front of her before looking back up at the others, who were also sitting around at the table.

"This isn't working." She said flatly. The others nodded in agreement.

"No shit Sherlock. We've been trying to figure something out for damn near two weeks. I still say we go in, wreck some shit, get Jackson, and get out." Matilda replied.

"We already talked about why that wouldn't work. We're so completely outnumbered, it's ridiculous. Charging in like that would be a suicide mission." Duncan pointed out. Another argument broke out between the group as Ruby simply placed her head on the table with a withering look painted across her face. The entire situation seemed to be hopeless. Eventually Matilda stood up, teeth gritted.

"I'm not just going to sit around here while we all just yell at eachother with no particular aim. We're getting so stressed, and we end up just fighting in the end. I say we take a break and come back later." She stated. Julio nodded.

"She's right. Everything that's happening right now seems to just be spiraling out of our control. We all need to take a bit to gather ourselves." He said. They looked at Ruby, and she let out a long sigh.

"Yeah, ok. I'm dismissing this meeting. Everyone, just...go do your own thing." She said finally. The group dispersed, going to do just that. Matilda walked back to her room, snatching up a lighter and a small box of cigarettes, making her way outside. She pushed the door open, stepping out into the cool night air. She jumped when she saw a small figure sitting crosslegged next to the door, however she relaxed when she recognized it as JJ. She stayed quiet, leaning onto the building next to them and pulling out a cigarette before lighting it. She took a small drag, exhaling a puff of smoke. JJ turned to her slightly.

"You smoke?" They asked quietly. Matilda shrugged, taking another drag.

"Not too often. Just when things start getting stressful. It'll kill your lungs if you do it too much." She replied. JJ blinked but turned back away from her, gaze switching back upwards.

It was quiet for another long while, save for the chirping crickets. Matilda sighed, looking down at the child.

"JJ...fuck." She said, rubbing the back of her neck. JJ glanced at her.

"What?" They asked. Matilda shook her head, looking back up.

"I just...I don't know what I should say. You've been changing since we brought you back. You hardly leave The Playground. You either eat nothing or everything. You're just...more detached. And I...I hate seeing it." She said slowly, stopping to think her words over nearly every second. JJ's eyebrows furrowed as they turned their head fully to her. Matilda grit her teeth, fighting for words.

"I just want you to know that I know it's hard right now. And I know trying to be strong is more or less an impossible feat, but you have to try. We're all here for you to lean on. Having people you trust around you can help a lot. That's how it was for me anyway." She said. JJ blinked at her.

"That's how it was for you?" They echoed. Matilda flinched, but sighed. She took one last drag from the cigarette before dropping it and grinding it into the ground with her heel. She sat down beside JJ , crossing her legs as well.

"I used to have six brothers. Marky, Micheal, Max, Moses, Micky, and Mobi. They're all complete assheads. Lovable assheads, but assheads none the less. Our parents divorced when I was 11, and things were kinda hard. We got older and things happened and eventually most of us had moved out. A little while after, I found out my oldest brother, Marky, and my dad got in a car accident. They didn't make it. All of us got hit hard by that. It hurt for a while. And to an extent, it still does. But we all knew we couldn't just stay that way. We did our best to recover. What I'm saying is, for a while it's going to hurt. Bad. And I'm not saying I know how close you were to your moms, because I don't. But I am saying that if you need somebody to help you go through the motions, you know where to find me, kiddo." She said, reaching over and ruffling their hair. It had gotten longer since she had first met them. She stood up, opening up the door again to go inside.

"Matilda?" JJ said quietly. She turned, raising a brow.

"Yeah?" She asked curiously.

"Thanks." They said simply. Matilda smiled, giving them a thumbs up before going back inside.


	64. Little to do

It had been quiet for a while. Unnervingly so. Usually there would at least be the muffled chatter of the guards outside the room, but that was gone now. Jackson was stuck on whether he should be tense or relieved. It was a while before anything happened. But like all times, something was bound to at some point. There were a set footsteps down the hall outside, and He straightened up, listening. The footsteps arrived, but passed his door and continued down, uninterrupted. Jackson slumped down slightly again in relief. At least it wasn't The Judge. More likely a henchman making security rounds. He closed his eyes and took a breath to calm his heart rate that had skyrocketed when he heard the footsteps. He kept his eyes closed, attempting to rest as much as he could. His electric anklet, or whatever the hell they called it, had malfunctioned again, thank god. A goon had taken it in for repairs, so for now he was completely shock free. A plus on all ends.

Once he got out of this place he planned on shoving that anklet straight up The Judge's ass. That thought alone brought a bitter smile to his face. His face dropped again however, and he let out a long breath. He shook the thoughts out of his head and relaxed back into his chair, closing his eyes once more. It wasn't long until he was out like a light. Courtesy of his exhaustion more than likely. Who knows how long passed, but he was eventually awoken by a slap to the face. He jolted from the hit, blinking blearily awake and focusing on the person in front of him. He immediately tensed.

"Oh great. It's you." Jackson grit out sarcastically. The Judge's eyes narrowed as he gave him another slap.

"I would drop the attitude if I were you." He said venomously. He looked obviously angry. Probably more angry than he had ever been. He seemed quite close to loosing his composure.

"Aw, what is it? Widdle Judgey wudgy is a little angwy wangwy?" Jackson mocked in a baby voice. The Judge's eyes narrowed further, and he put one leg up before kicking him backwards and sending him, as well as the chair he was cuffed to, to the ground with a clang.

"I don't have any patience for your little games. You would do well to keep your mouth shut." The Judge growled, slamming his foot into Jackson's neck. He gasped for air, doing his best to struggle away from The Judge's firmly planted foot to no avail. He wished he had his hands free so he could push him off. His vision slowly began to get darker and darker as black spots dotted his vision. He was nearly unconscious when The Judge finally lifted his foot, allowing Jackson to breathe. He coughed and wheezed for the air he had been deprived of as his vision came back. The Judge leaned down, grabbing the back of the chair and tugging it back up. Jackson glared harshly at the man.

"If you don't want me to do that again, I would suggest that you keep your sarcasm to a minimum." The Judge said.

"You're saying that like you don't already do that regularly." Jackson hissed. The Judge shook his head, gritting his teeth. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a familiar anklet. Jackson tensed up more as The Judge clamped it over his ankle. The feeling was uncomfortably familiar to him.

"I do hope that this one will be more sufficient than the others. They all seem to keep breaking at the most inopportune times. Luckily I've brought in some new hands to make these sorts of things correctly. Lets see if it works, shall we?" The Judge said, taking out a familiar remote. He pushed the slider to the top before pressing it. Jackson was unable to help the scream that forced its way out of his mouth before he slumped over limply. That was likely the most painful shock he's gotten as of yet. The Judge smiled, satisfied with the result, before walking to him.

"I see it works. That's good. Now then, I've been quite stressed as of late, so I hope you don't mind if I use you as a stress toy." He said. Jackson shuddered at his voice


	65. Fault and facade

Duncan fiddled with the wires of a small round object, a concentrated look on his face. There was a sudden pop, and the object lit up and shot towards the ceiling, making him yelp in surprise. It buzzed around the room frantically before it shot towards the door, which was quickly opening. A hand snatched the object out of the air. Duncan blinked in surprise as JJ stepped in, holding it slightly away from them.

"I'm guessing this is yours." They said. Duncan chuckled and walked over, taking it from their hand and pressing a button on the back. It turned off.

"Yes, that would be mine. Thanks for catching it." He said. JJ shrugged, walking in and hopping up onto a table that didn't have spare parts scattered all over it. Duncan walked back to his own table, placing the object in his hand back down. For a few minutes, he worked in silence. However, that silence quickly began to become awkward to him.

"Is there any particular reason you decided to visit me?" He asked. JJ simply shrugged.

"I dunno. I just wanted to do something other than lay around I guess." They said. Duncan hummed slightly, glancing over at them.

"Are you alright?" He asked. JJ blinked at him.

"I'm fine. Why?" They answered. Duncan sighed, putting down what he was doing to turn to them completely.

"I...don't really know how to put what I'm saying into words that either of us can really understand, but that just seems like a lie. You obviously aren't fine. If you were fine, you would probably be with Noah right now, and you would be messing with all my work. In truth, I don't really think you've been completely "fine" since, well, Jackson was captured." He said. JJ stared at him, eyebrows beginning to furrow.

"I'm not really sure what you're getting at here." They stated bluntly. Duncan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Ok. Yeah, neither do I. It's just that, ever since Jackson was captured, you've been trying to keep yourself up and not actually accepting your own feelings. Recently it all just seems less like you and more like a forced facade. And I just wanted to sit down and figure out how you actually felt. Not how you were pretending to feel. So I just want to know, what are you actually feeling?" He explained slowly. JJ's face quickly dropped, and they looked down at the ground. For a minute, they were quiet.

"I feel like it was my fault." They said quietly. Duncan walked over, leaning against the table.

"You know it wasn't, right?" He asked. JJ shook their head furiously.

"Ruby told me that. But it still doesn't help. I try to tell myself that too, but it just feels like a complete lie. I was still the one who went off to try to find my...moms, and made him come after me." They said. Their hands had the edges of the table in a white knuckled grip. Duncan closed his eyes, taking a long breath.

"It's ok. I know it's hard to believe what we're saying here. And I don't know how your mind works or what you're thinking, so I can't say anything about that. It would be wrong to say the least. But I can say that eventually this will be over. We'll all be able to move on from this whole entire hell fest and we can heal. I don't know how long it'll take, but it'll happen. And when it happens, you'll be able to stop blaming yourself for the past too. You get me?" He said. A small smile tugged at the edges of JJ's lips.

"Yeah." They replied. Duncan smiled, pushing away from the table.

"Good. Now, I have a couple things I'm working on that I have a feeling you might like. Wanna do some test runs?" He asked.

"Hell yeah." JJ answered, hopping off of the table and following him back over to the workbench he had been using previously.


	66. Hang on

Jackson was completely and utterly exhausted. His entire body hurt, he felt lightheaded, and the room hadn't stopped spinning for a good three minutes. The only "good" thing about his current position was the fact that he was out of his chair, instead laying sprawled on the floor. He wasn't sure how long it had been since The Judge had allowed the goons to beat him up however they saw fit, but probably a good while. He couldn't be sure he hadn't passed out a few times. He was also fairly sure his right ankle was broken, depending on the throbbing pain emanating from it. Possibly a couple cracked or bruised ribs as well. The door creaked open once more, and he flinched at the footsteps that approached, stopping next to him.

"Well now, I would say from the looks of it that you've had a good day, haven't you?" The Judge said, rolling Jackson onto his back with his foot. The only sound he was able to muster up was a pathetic whimper, which he internally scolded himself for.

"Oh, what? No sarcastic comments? No witty banter? I'm disappointed." The Judge laughed.

"G-go to hell." Jackson grit out, voice shaking. The Judge hummed before delivering a swift kick to his side, gaining a small cry from the man below him.

"You know, you could make this so much easier on yourself. You could simply give up. Work for me. You could be a great asset to us you know." He said, walking around Jackson. He gave a half hearted glare at The Judge, hopefully getting his point across. The Judge sighed, shaking his head.

"No need to look so glum you know. It'll only be for however long I decide to keep you alive. And who knows. If you do, I might go easier on your friends once I have captured them." He chuckled.

"If you think y-you can capture t-them, you have a whole other thing c-coming" Jackson hissed. The Judge cocked a brow at him, smirking.

"Well, I captured you didn't I? And by the looks of it, it still looks like they're reluctant to do anything. Who knows? They might just give up. It would be better for everyone after all. They may have powers, but I have numbers." He replied. Jackson's eyes dropped. He was right. Even they couldn't fight against that many armed people grouped so closely together. He let his head fall to the ground, squeezing his eyes shut and pressing his lips into a thin line. Any confidence he had left was quickly draining away from his body. For a brief second, he almost considered finally giving up, and letting go. The Judge knelt down next to him.

"You understand what I'm saying, don't you? It doesn't matter how hard you fight. In the end, I will be the one coming out on top. All of you are simply a minor annoyance, if you will. Just another pebble in the road. You can't stop what's already happening." He said before standing up.

He turned on his heel, walking back to the door and opening it. He stopped however when he heard Jackson's voice growl out from behind him, turning his head to face the man.

"You're an idiot if you think we'll just give up. If one of us defeated someone with the power to shape reality, then I don't doubt we can fuck up a little guy like you." Jackson said, keeping his voice as steady as possible. The Judge closed his eyes, turning away from him once more.

"We'll see. We'll see." He replied. He exited the room, slamming the door behind him and leaving the room in darkness once more. Jackson took deep breaths, doing his best to ignore the pain that shot through his ribs with every inhale and exhale. He might be beaten and broken, but he wasn't about to give up just yet. He knew he was better than that. He only had to hold on for a little while longer until he was rescued.


	67. Leaving

Julio strode down the hallway quickly, glancing around for one person in particular. Unfortunately it always seemed like the two weeks they had been completely impossible to find. At least they were moving around. He passed by the cafeteria, but halted and backed up once he registered that the person he was looking for was sitting right there at one of the tables, back to him. He thought for a moment before grinning. He snuck forward silently, and once he got to them, he quickly wrapped his arms around them and lifted them clear off the seat. JJ let out a high pitched screech, wiggling to get a better view of their attacker. Once they saw it was Julio, they relaxed, but glared.

"Oh fuck off. Don't do that! I could have killed you ya know." They said sternly. Julio laughed, placing them back down.

"Yeah yeah, sorry." He laughed, plopping down onto the seat next to them. They raised their brows at him.

"Something up?" They asked. He shook his head, waving his hand in a negative manner.

"No! Nothings wrong. I just wanted to find you to check how you were doing. You've seemed...better? Yeah, a little better lately." He answered. They blinked before looking back down at the table, where a sandwich with a few bites taken out of it sat. They sighed, tapping their fingers on the table.

"I mean...I guess? I'm just trying not to detrimentally fuck up my health." They said. Julio ruffled their hair slightly, and they gave him a half hearted and wavering grin.

"I also just wanted to tell you that we're going to try to get Jackson out today." Julio said. JJ jerked, their head whipping to him so fast it was a surprise it didn't snap.

"What?" They asked slowly. Julio rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a long breath as he nodded. He could almost see the way their stomach dropped.

"Yeah. We figured something out finally, and we wanted to kick into gear as soon as possible. I guess that's another reason I wanted to find you. Can't just leave you alone with no idea where we are, right?" He laughed nervously. JJ's eyes pierced into his own, an expression on their face that he couldn't pin.

"...Oh." They said after a long silence. Their voice was dripping with concern and fear. They went to grab at their necklace, but grasped at nothing. At the remembrance that they had dropped it, they grabbed their seat instead, scratching at it furiously.

"How...long do you think you'll be gone for?" They asked.

"Uh, well, I'm not too sure, but we should be back before dinner." He replied. JJ looked down once more, eyebrows furrowing heavily. For a few moments, they seemed to daze out. Like they were remembering something. They suddenly shook their head, biting down on their lip.

They opened their mouth to say something, but closed it again. They took another second before finally speaking.

"Um, ok. Uh...please be careful." They said quietly. Julio patted their back with a comforting smile.

"Don't worry, ok? We'll be back before you know it. I'll make us all something special when we come back, alright?" He replied. JJ nodded in response.

"Ok. Just...ok, fuck. Stay safe and get Jackson back home. That's all I'm going to say because if I say anything else I'm going to get sappy." They said, steeling their expression. Julio laughed loudly, smiling.

"We will. I promise." He answered. He went to say something else, but the watch around his wrist beeped a few times and lit up for a moment.

"Oh, sorry, gotta go now. I'll see you later." He said quickly, patting their head one last time before getting up, hurrying to the exit. JJ watched him leave, the rock in their chest only getting heavier.

{oof, sorry about missing the update on my last fic. i had a bad day and was also preoccupied with other stuff. On another note, todays my 15th birthday! yaaay!}


	68. Their failure

Jackson woke with a start to the sounds of sirens wailing through the entire building. He could see red lights flashing from under the door of his cell, and for a moment, he was frozen. But slowly, a small, weak grin made its way across his face. They were here. He knew it. A chuckle breezed out of his mouth as he looked up at the ceiling.

"About damn time." he breathed quietly. He was going to be free. He was finally going to see his friends again. That thought alone was bolstering, seeming to make all of his pain disappear at once. Loud shouting echoed throughout the halls, obviously from some of the goons. Within minutes, his cell door suddenly slammed open, and one of the goons stood before him.

"We're moving you to a different cell." He said bluntly, quickly moving to pick the man up under his arm. Jackson hissed in pain as he squeezed on a few of his wounds, but shook it off and smirked.

"Let me guess. They're finally here. There's no way you can beat them you know." He chuckled. The goon growled and squeezed him harder, eliciting a small yelp.

"Shut up. The boss is dealing with them." He said, continuing to stride down the hallway undeterred. He turned a few corners into a different hallway that seemed to be lined with silver. At the end of it was a set of metal doors. There was a small scanner panel next to it, glowing softly. The goon walked up, pulling a small card from his belt and pressing it to the scanner. The doors slid open to reveal some sort of elevator, which he stepped inside. He pressed a few buttons on the side and the doors slid closed once more. The elevator dropped for a minute before coming to a stop and opening once more. Before them was a very dark hallway, only lit by a few overhead lights every now and again. The sirens that had once rung out loud and clear were now silent. It was almost eerily quiet. As it seemed, they were the only ones there.

As the goon walked down the hallway, Jackson scanned around looking for any indication of where they were. He found none.

"Where the hell are we?" He asked. The goon glanced down at him with a glare, and squeezed him once again.

"I told you to shut your mouth. Keep it up and I'll have to shove something in it. We're in the secure levels." He answered in a low growl. Jackson couldn't help but flinch, looking back down. For a few minutes they continued down the winding hallways silently until they finally reached a cell door. The goon slid the card out once more and slid it into a slot in the wall. There was a click and the door popped open. He tossed Jackson into the cell carelessly before stepping back out.

"You'll be staying here for the rest of the attack. Get used to it." He said, slamming the door shut immediately after. Jackson grumbled, pushing himself slowly onto shaky arms to push himself up against a wall.

And so began the waiting. He was used to it by now. But slowly, he began to get worried. They still weren't there yet. He shook his head, taking a deep breath. They would be there soon. He knew it. Almost as soon as he thought that, there was a pulse. It shot through him without a moments notice, leaving him completely breathless and sick to his stomach. He keeled over, clutching himself as the pain in his body seemed to double. His stomach dropped as he realized why. That was an electronic pulse. It had shut off his nanobytes, and he assumed the others as well. He cursed loudly. A few minutes later, the door opened once more. Stepping through, was The Judge. He looked much different than usual. His usually kempt hair was mussed up along with his suit, and he had lost all sense of composure as an enraged look was on his face. He strode forward and stood before him.

"You're friends have been quite the nuisance. They took down nearly half my forces. But no matter, they have been captured. Except for the little ones, but we will find them in time. Needless to say, I. Am. Not. Happy. I intend to teach them a lesson through you. I'm going to have fun with this one." He grit out. Jackson felt his heart pound in his chest, and he swallowed slightly. He had too many things whirring through his head, but the only thing he knew, was that there was no chance of rescue now. God help him.


	69. They'll be back

JJ paced back and forth on the pavement before the school, muttering incomprehensible german to themselves as Noah watched tensely. The only other sounds around them was the slight chirping of crickets.

"JJ...you should really come back inside. They'll probably be back later. I hope..." Noah said nervously. JJ jerked towards him, a look of panic on their face.

"No! They should have been back by now! Julio said that they would be back by dinner. This is quite fucking obviously way the fuck past dinner. It's twelve at night for gods sakes! Jesus christ!" They shouted. Noah flinched away at the yelling, which was quickly noticed. JJ's face dropped and their shoulders slumped slightly.

"I'm sorry." they said quietly. Noah blinked at them before looking down.

"It's fine. But please. Let's go back inside. It's cold." He answered. JJ nodded slowly, plodding back over to the building following Noah. Once the two were inside, they plopped down across from each other at one of the tables of the cafeteria.

They didn't speak for a while, simply sitting in silence with tenseness thick enough to cut with a knife. Eventually, JJ stood up and walked towards the kitchen without a word.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Noah asked, jumping up to follow them.

"I'm gonna make something. Watch if you want." They replied shortly, continuing into the kitchen. Noah gave them a bewildered and horrified look.

"You summoned demons last time you tried to cook! I don't think that's a good idea. We don't want to blow something up this time." He said frantically.

"Yeah, well, that's cause I wasn't good at those ones. I have one singular thing I actually can cook. Im doing that." JJ replied as they made their way around, gathering ingredients and plopping them onto the counter one by one. Noah watched in apprehension as they started measuring and mixing things, waiting for something to go wrong.

He waited, and waited, and waited. Slowly he began to be more and more surprised as nothing seemed to be catching on fire or summoning demons. After a while, JJ finally slammed the oven shut with their foot, going to wash their hands off in the sink. Noah walked over to the oven and peered in.

"What are they?" He asked.

"Apple cinnamon strudels. My mutter and I used...to..." JJ stopped, straightening up and taking a deep shivering breath. Noah looked at them and stood up, going over and wrapping an arm around their shoulders. They leaned into him, keeping their eyes down.

"Thanks." They said. Noah gave them a small smile.

"No problem." He replied. They talked for a while as they waited for the strudels to finish. Mostly about random things that happened before in their lives, like the time that JJ broke their ankle because they kicked a bag wrong, or what Noah's extended family was like.

For those moments, it almost seemed like the others weren't missing. Like they weren't just kids trying to pull off the impossible. Like the world wasn't in danger. And for those moments, they weren't scared of the future yet to come. That is, until the oven dinged, signaling the food to be ready. Soon enough, they were sitting at a table next to each other with a plate of strudel in front of each of them.

"Alright. Here's to hoping it doesn't poison us." Noah laughed. JJ shoved him with a grin as he took a bite. He immediately froze for a second as his eyes began to sparkle.

"JJ, holy crud. This is awesome. How'd you even do this?" He cried. They winked at him as they took a bite of their own strudel.

"That would be telling." They sang with a smirk. Noah shoved them playfully and snorted. After that, the two continued on to push their worries for a later time. It's all they could do.

{I know this may not be appropriate for the note of such a soft chapter, but uhhhhhhhhhh, NICE.}


	70. The captured ones

Loud banging echoed through the small cell as Matilda continued to hit at it with an enraged look on her face. She backed up once more, chest heaving, before screaming out in frustration and giving the door one last punch before sliding to the ground.

"It's ok, Matilda. You did your best." Duncan said comfortingly from the other side of the room. Most of the group was sitting against the back wall together, save for Ruby who was standing to the side, teeth gritted and arms crossed. All of them were definitely worse for wear, considering they had just fought one hundred plus goons before having their upgrades simultaneously shut off. They were covered in cuts and bruises, and Ruby and Heathcliff's glasses were both cracked.

"I mean, we did our best right? We can still figure a way out of this." Julio said in a wavering voice. Ruby finally whirled around.

"No! We can't! We fucked up the plan, and now who knows what the hell is going to happen? Jackson is still somewhere here and probably dead by this point, JJ and Noah are still back at base and definitely wondering where we are, and none of us have any of our upgrades to have help us!" She cried before choking slightly, covering her face with a hand. The group was quiet, staring at her in surprise. Heathcliff's brows furrowed, and he stood up to walk to her. He grabbed her shoulders and glared at her.

"Get ahold of yourself, Ruby! Look. We lost this fight. But how many fights have we lost before? We've gotten out of bad situations before, and we can do it again. The Ruby I knew would have already been working on a plan to get out of here. Not breaking down because she lost control of the situation for a bit. We can't just lie down, ok? We can still figure something out." He said. Ruby closed her eyes, rubbing her face and taking a deep breath.

"Right. You're right. Sorry." She replied.

"Hey. It's fine. You got this! So come on oh great leader. Tell us what to do." Matilda laughed. A ghost of a smile crossed Ruby's face as she gave a half hearted glare at her. She plopped down onto her bottom, quickly being joined by the others. She thought for a minute before finally speaking.

"Alright. So. This is a pretty bad situation. No upgrades, no fancy tech, surrounded by hundreds of goons and lackeys at every turn, you know the drill. What we're going to need right now is time. We don't have any opportunities right now. It might be a shoddy plan, but we need to figure out how these guys work. What the schedule is. Get their layout. From there, we can get things moving." She explained, tapping a finger on the ground.

"We still need to figure out where Jackson is too." Julio said. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"I know. And we will. It's only a matter of time. We just need to stay calm, alright?" She replied. Once again the group responded affirmatively.

Duncan suddenly stopped for a moment, eyebrows furrowing. It was an almost nervous look.

"What do you think JJ and Noah are going to do?" He asked. Ruby gave him a questioning look.

"I'm sure they'll be fine. They have food and everything they need. What do you mean?" She asked. Duncan shook his head, scratching the back of his neck.

"No, I know, I just...do you thick they're going to try to come after us?" He answered. For a moment, everyone froze.

"Shit. Its more than likely. Even if Noah doesn't, JJ definitely will. The only hope that they won't lies on Noah stopping them." Heathcliff stated. For a few moments, nobody spoke as the words sunk in.

"Then...I guess we can only hope that they hold off long enough for us to get out?" Matilda said slowly. She was met with a deadpan look. She laughed awkwardly.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."


	71. Together again in the worst way

Pain. That's the first Jackson woke up to. Not that it was surprising. In fact, he was quite sure he was still bleeding in some places. Violated, injured, and tossed to the side like a used toy. The ground beneath him seemed colder than ever now that his senses had flooded back. He groaned, attempting to lift himself up only to fail miserably. He went limp in defeat and closed his eyes. They didn't stay closed for long as the door to the cell slammed open and a goon stepped in. Jackson couldn't suppress the slight whimper that came out of his mouth as he tried to push himself back unsuccessfully. The goon grabbed the back of his shirt and tugged him up wordlessly as he began to drag him out of the room. They continued through the halls before arriving at a large door and entering into it. The walls of the large room were steel while the floor was a solid white marble. Both were stained in various patterns of rusty brown and red. Jackson forced down a gag. Save for the large metal pole to the side of the room, it was empty. Standing next to the pole, was The Judge. He opened his arms as if greeting an old friend.

"Well look at what the cat dragged in. How are you doing?" He greeted. Jackson looked down silently, flinching at his voice. The Judge chuckled.

"What? No fuck you? No go to hell? I'm disappointed. But no matter, that's not what we're here for now." He said. He made a gesture with his hand, and the goon nodded. He pulled off Jackson's shirt as he pulled him to the pole before pulling him forcefully up. The goon took a pair of cuffs off his belt and slapped one part onto one of Jacksons wrists before tossing the chain back and clipping it to something above his head before pulling the other cuff down and putting that on him as well. The Judge walked up beside him, arms crossed with a smirk.

"This position always seems quite fitting for you." He mentioned nonchalantly, running a finger over his back to trace along the marks. Jackson flinched and attempted to shrink away from his touch.

"Well, no matter, we have guests. I have a feeling this little session will be even more fun than our last." The Judge laughed. A knocking suddenly came from the door.

"Ah. Speak of the devil. Or, well, devils I suppose." He said. The door slammed open, and a few goons stepped in. Jackson froze, eyes shooting open at who they held. It was his friends. Almost as soon as he saw them, they saw him too.

"Jackson!" Duncan cried. The others went into various states of panic as they attempted to struggle from their captors. This was save for Ruby, who stood in complete shock and horror. Their struggles ended in futility as they were shoved to the ground in front of him.

"What the fuck did you do to him you bastard?!' Matilda shouted forcefully as fire danced in her eyes. The Judge glanced at her with a raised brow.

"I've simply been beating him into complacency. I have to say, he is quite the problem." The man responded. He shook his head however, stepping forward as he brought a small, round device from his pocket.

"But you can see that for yourselves." He smirked, tossing the object to the ground as a hologram projected out of it.

The hologram projected the horrible things that had been done to him the day before as the NERDS watched in abject horror. At one point, Julio turned and gagged, attempting to keep himself from puking. After a while, the hologram finally stopped, and he placed the object back in his pocket.

"I suppose that must have answered your questions." He said. The NERDS stared at him in mixed tones of shock and rage as they glanced back over at Jackson, who had his eyes clenched shut and his forehead pressed to the metal pole.

"Now then. You all caused me to loose quite a lot of troops. So I've decided to do a fun little game. For every goon and henchman you killed or injured, your friend here gets one lash. And you killed quite a few, so I don't suppose he's going to have a good time." He chuckled. All of a sudden, Ruby jerked, attempting to pull from her captor to rush at the man.

"You fucker! Leave him the hell alone!" She cried out. The Judge ignored her, unfurling a long whip from his belt.

"Lets begin, shall we?"


	72. Upgraded again (10-01 07:38:29)

Loud snoring echoed through the cafeteria, coming from the small boy who was laying across the other child's stomach. They themselves were breathing slowly and quietly. How the two were able to sleep on the floor next to the door was a mystery. But all things must come to an end, so it wasn't long until they were finally awake and moving. They ate some food, and took time to wake themselves up. But they eventually met back down in The Playground. JJ sat atop one of the tables in the room while Noah sat in a chair next to it. Benjamin hovered gently above them.

"They're captured. No other explanation. Literally none. We're so fucked." JJ stated bluntly, glaring at the wall.

"Uh, well, maybe they were, but just needed a little bit of time to escape?" Noah said uneasily. JJ gave him a pointed look and he looked down with a frown.

"Yeah, I know." He said quietly. JJ rubbed their face and looked at Benjamin.

"Benjamin. You're the supercomputer here. What should we do?" They asked. Benjamin clicked and beeped for a few moments, calculating the various scenarios they could go through.

"Well, children, it looks as if relocating to a different area not under control of The Judge would be the best idea. Perhaps staying with Noah's parents would be the most ideal." He finally replied. JJ cursed, punching the table beneath them.

"Shit! Are you fucking kidding? After all this, our only good option is to run? That's bullshit!" They cried angrily. The other two seemed to almost flinch away at their anger. They noticed, taking a deep breath and falling back onto the table, hands on their face.

"Sorry. I just...I don't want to just leave them. I don't want...I don't want people I care about to die or get tortured or whatever because I was stupid." They said shakily. Noah's eyebrows furrowed and he put a hand on their arm.

"We've all told you. It wasn't your fault." he said firmly. JJ pulled their hands away to stare at him.

"No, no. Don't try to pull that. Ok? I know it was. I'm owning up to that now. I know that this is my fault. Don't try to pull that away from me, because in the end it was still all me. I know I'm a kid, but I'm twelve. I should know better. But I didn't even think." They replied, sitting back up before hopping off the table to pace back and forth. They chewed their lip as they walked, the other two watching in worry.

"Well...I'm gonna go get my stuff together. Sorry JJ, I don't think there's any way we can help. We need to get out of here." Noah said apologetically, getting up and walking to the exit. JJ watched him go in silence before looking back to the table. For a while they were motionless, simply thinking. Then, all of a sudden, they jerked upwards as their eyes lit up.

"Did you figure something out?" Benjamin asked, slightly perturbed at the grin that split the childs face.

"Hell yeah I did. Benjamin, I'm going to upgrade myself again and go save them myself." They stated firmly.

"You're joking." Benjamin replied. However his answer came with JJ beginning to shoot towards the upgrade room with a look of determination.

"JJ, no! If all of the NERDS couldn't do anything, then you of all people most certainly can't either." Benjamin said. JJ shook their head and gripped their hands into fists.

"There's a chance I can. If I even have that little bit of hope that I can, I'm going to do it. I have metal powers. Guns won't do shit if I'm quick enough. Plus, you'll be with me." They explained. For a few moments, Benjamin buzzed and beeped, unmoving. But then, he finally spoke.

"You know what could happen, right?" He asked. JJ nodded.

"Yeah, I know. But I'll do anything I need to if I can save them." They replied. Benjamin was silent for another few seconds.

"Alright. Then let's do this." He said.

Within a few minutes, JJ was upgraded once more and sprinting down the corridors of the school. They slid to a stop near one of the storage rooms, quickly opening it and snatching up their hoverboard and its magnetic pack. They pulled on a bulletproof vest under their white hoodie for extra measure. As they rushed by, they slammed into Noah.

"Whoa! Uh, JJ? What are you doing?" He asked.

"Saving the NERDS! No time to talk! See ya!" They answered back as they continued their mad dash down the hall. They ignored the 'you're what???' from Noah, only laughing slightly. Finally they came to the entrance, slamming the door open and tossing the hoverboard down. They felt Benjamin buzz slightly from in the pocket of their hoodie, but they ignored it. They were on their way to save their friends, and they didn't plan on letting anyone or anything get in their way.


	73. The beginning of something great

Jackson hissed again as his back was splashed in salt water and rubbing alcohol once more, nearly buckling as the wounds stung like a thousand angry wasps attacking his back. He was just barely hanging onto his consciousness by this point. It was a miracle he was still standing if he was completely honest with himself. But he held on, trying to be as strong as he possibly could with his friends still watching. He couldn't imagine how they felt, watching him be tortured in front of them. They had already struggled to free themselves multiple times in desperate attempts to help him, to no avail. It was nice that they tried though. He was popped out of his thoughts by The Judge's taunting voice echoed out once more.

"You're holding up so well. I expected nothing less from you. And to think you were such an scared and arrogant little thing all those years ago." He chuckled. Jackson grimaced before glaring.

"Ye-yeah, well, p-people...change." He stuttered despite his best efforts to keep his voice steady. The Judge shook his head with a smirk, glancing over at the others who stared at him with an unwavering hatred in their eyes.

"So it seems." He hummed. The talking stopped for another long while as he continued giving Jackson lash after lash. Jackson himself still tried to silence himself as much as he could by biting on his lip. It was already bleeding due to that. That was until a new goon nervously stepped into the room and quickly jogged over to The Judge.

"Uh, sir? We have a problem." He said carefully. The Judge gave Jackson another lash before turning to him with an annoyed look.

"Have I not told you all to not disturb me while I'm in a session." He replied dangerously. The goon flinched, but nodded.

"Yes sir. But it's important." He said. The Judge crossed his arms and raised a brow, unamused.

"Spit it out then." He growled.

"Well, four of our scouting teams have disappeared within the last hour." The goon explained. The Judge sighed and shook his head.

"Then gather a search team and find them. If I find you interrupting me again, I'll have you taken care of." He said lowly. The goon gulped before rushing back out. For a moment, it was quiet again as they watched him go. Ruby saw her chance, and she took it. She fell forward onto the ground and kicked her legs back with enough force as she could muster. There was a pained cry and a sickening crack as she felt the goons knees give way slightly. She was on her feet and sprinting over to Jackson within a millisecond. She slid next to him to examine if there was something she could do to get him out of his. She knew even if there was, she wouldn't be able to do much with her hands shackled behind her back. So just before she was tugged violently away, just in case this was the last chance she had to say it, she said something she hadn't in years.

"I'm sorry. I love you." She muttered quietly, giving him a single kiss on the lips.

And with that, she was forcefully tugged away from him, leaving him to register what had just happened.

"How...sickeningly sweet." The Judge said, wrinkling up his nose in disgust. He sighed and shook his head.

"Well, it doesn't matter I suppose. We've already finished with this part of the session. Are you still awake there?" The Judge said, walking over to the chained man. Jackson turned and spat on him.

"Go to hell." He snarled. The Judge chuckled in response.

"Apparently so. Well, since you are, I'm going to give you a simple choice. We're going to shoot each one of your little friends here. Choose who goes first." He said. Jackson froze as his eyes shot open.

"No, p-please...don't." He begged. The Judge rolled his eyes with a smirk.

"Tick tock my boy. You have one more chance." He responded.

"D-do anything y-you want to me. J-just don't hurt t-them." Jackson said, voice quivering.

The Judge laughed a long, wicked laugh. He then shook his head, still smiling.

"Oh my oh my. I already have done everything I wanted with you. It's simply too fun to watch you suffer. And you truly think I would just let your friends go without having a bit of fun with them as well? I think not. We're already here. Choose, or I'll choose for you." He said slowly. Jackson clenched his eyes shut, shaking his head furiously.

"No. I'm n-not doing it." He sobbed, tears already pricking at his eyes. The Judge sighed as he pulled a pistol from his belt, walking over to the other NERDS who were frozen in fear and shock. He looked over them one by one before his eyes finally landed on Ruby. The only one with a look of pure steel on her face. He nodded, pressing the gun to her forehead.

"Well then, I've chosen for you. Say goodbye to your lady friend." He said, going to press the trigger. Suddenly the entire room began to tremble like an earthquake, nearly causing half the occupants of the room to nearly fall over. The Judges eyebrows furrowed.

"What the hell?" He said quietly. The door slammed open once more, and there stood a ragged and horrified henchman.

"Sir, all robots in the above facilities have activated and gone rampant. There isn't anyone piloting them."


	74. Getting closer to a goal

JJ grinned as they gave the goon below them a final, vicious stomp to the face. The goon was out before he could do a thing. They then dragged him off behind the treeline to where the pile of other goons was and tossed him into it. They dusted their hands off, satisfied that was all the scouting groups. For now anyway.

"Good job, JJ. We should now have a clear shot inside the town. If you stick to the rooftops and be quiet, we won't be found out. Hopefully." Benjamin chirped from inside their pocket. JJ nodded, throwing down their hoverboard and hopping on. They were soon flying to the closest building and hopped off again. They scanned across the area before nodding in satisfaction.

"The buildings seem pretty tightly packed in this area. I should be able to hop across pretty easy." They hummed, more to themselves than Benjamin. Just like they said, they jumped across each gap and obstacle with relative ease, sticking towards the back so they couldn't be viewed.

"Which direction were their signals before they turned off? How far are we?" They asked.

"Keep going straight. And not far, it seems." Benjamin answered. JJ gave an affirmative noise and continued rushing quickly along the rooftops. They didn't want to admit it, but they were terrified. They were terrified they might be captured. They were terrified of the very real possibility of their friends being hurt, or worse. After their initial realization that the man doing all this used to be their foster father, they only started to remember more and more of the bad things he had done. The things he could do. It made their gut twist painfully. No matter, they were shaken from their thoughts at the sound of voices and a loud whirring noise. They stopped and dropped to their stomach, crawling across the roof in order to peer over. They froze at what they saw.

Standing in rows were fourteen different robots. They recognized them very, very clearly. They were the very same bots that had caused this entire ordeal. The ones that had made them run for cover inside of that school, and thusly causing the domino effect for every event that had happened after. Three people who they could only assume were minions, walked around the rows writing things down onto clipboards. It was obviously some kind of inspection. They suddenly gained a wicked idea, and a sharp grin crossed their features.

"Hey Benjamin?" JJ giggled.

"I don't like your tone. What exactly are you planning?" Benjamin replied suspiciously. JJ's grin grew wider, ignoring what he had said.

"Can you hack those robots?" They asked. Benjamin beeped and buzzed, flying out of their pocket.

"I can tell where you're going with this, and I don't think it's a good idea. But yes, I can." He finally replied. JJ's eyes sparkled with a giddy malice, obviously more than eager to cause chaos for the people who hurt their friends.

"I want you to hack those robots and make them cause a little chaos." They said firmly. Benjamin let out a long sigh despite his lack of breath. He would have given JJ a withering look if he was using his hologram form. He was unable to refuse the steely look of stubborn determination on their face. They looked too much like Ruby used to when she was set on something.

"Alright. I just hope you know what you're doing." He finally conceded. He flashed and buzzed for a couple seconds and soon enough, the robots came to life. They began to stomp in all different directions as holes opened up on their bodies and missiles started surging from them.

"There. Now come on. Only a little further." Benjamin stated. JJ nodded and sprinted faster along the rooftops. Soon enough they came to a place where the buildings suddenly stopped and gave way to dirt road. In the distance was a small building surrounded by a chain link fence and henchmen.

Their heart began hammering in their chest when they spotted the large guns that the henchmen held. They swallowed it down and shook their head. They could take them. JJ used their hoverboard to glide down, and began to move closer. It wasn't long at all until the henchmen noticed them. They raised their guns, but JJ quickly flicked their hand up. The guns yanked out of their hands, and JJ closed their eyes as they fired. They crushed the gate in their way and entered, slinging one of the guns over their shoulder and doing their best to ignore the blood spatter and the trembling fear that wrapped around their neck from feeling the cold metal on their shoulder. They opened the door and entered. However they were met with a firm, muscly chest. They jerked back, slinging the gun off their back and pointing it at the giant man. He put his hands up.

"Wait! Uhm, ah, please don't shoot...me..." He trailed off from his cry of mercy, examining the tiny child closely. His eyes shot open.

"Are you...JJ?" He asked. JJ froze up before their eyes narrowed into thin slits. They pressed the gun up into his chin harshly.

"How the fuck do you know that?" They snarled fiercely. The man visibly gulped, eyes training on the gun.

"I, uh, know who you're here to rescue. Uh, Jackson told me about you." He stammered. JJ's eyebrows shot up and they lowered the gun slightly.

"What?" They whispered in confusion. The goon looked around and behind them before sighing.

"Look. I know where your friends are. They're about to be executed. We have to get moving if we want to stop it." He said quickly. JJ froze as their heart rate skyrocketed. However, they shook it off.

"Get me to the surveillance room. You have one right?" They said. The goon blinked in confusion.

"Yes but-" He began, but was cut off by JJ's furious shout and them pressing the gun to his chest again.

"Then take me there!" The goon gulped and nodded. He quickly started walking towards the stairs in the back, followed closely by JJ.

{Sorry nyall for not updating the other storys. Not doing too hot at the moment. Im getting through it though. No worries. Ill keep trying to keep on track and stuff as much as possible}


	75. Run

"They what?" The Judge said slowly, his voice dripping with a threatening tone. The goon flinched before repeating what he had said.

"The robots, sir. They're walking around with no pilots and destroying everything around them." He reiterated. The Judge's eyes narrowed.

"Well shut them off then! You have remote controls, use them you dimwits." He growled.

"We've been trying! It seems like they've been...hacked or something. There's an error in the systems." The goon gulped. The NERDS looked between one another, familiar looks of understanding on their faces. The Judge strode up to the goon and pulled him face to face with a terrifying glare.

"Get out there, and stop them however you can. Is that clear?" He snarled. The goon shrunk down, nodding with a fearful look in his eyes.

"Crystal clear sir." He stammered, shooting out of the room.

It was quiet for a few seconds before another boom rattled through the room and again almost knocking a few people off of their feet. There was a sudden slight chuckling, which The Judge turned to face immediately. The one making the noise was none other than Jackson himself. The Judge stalked over, gripping at the whip at his side.

"And what happens to be so funny?" He asked. Jackson had a weak smirk on his face, turning to look at the man.

"That's a sign you know." He said slowly, successful for once at keeping his voice steady. The Judge cocked a brow.

"How so?" He asked. Jackson shook his head as he kept his face neutral.

"That m-means, either one of your men is a traitor, or t-there's someone here f-fucking up your shit. A-and that means there's s-still hope for you to get put d-down yet." He replied. The Judge growled, unfurling the whip once more and letting a vicious lash run across the other mans face.

Jackson was unable to keep back a choked cry of pain as a large line that crossed under his eyes and across the bridge of his nose began to bleed.

"It. Means. Nothing." The Judge growled. His entire body was tense as he put the whip back into his belt before drawing the gun and pressing it to his head. There was a collective cry of "no!!!" from the NERDS as Jackson closed his eyes.

"I think I've had my fill of you. Goodbye." The Judge hissed. There was a sudden loud crunch as the gun crushed itself. Everyone in the room stared at the gun in shock as the intercom clicked on and a familiar voice came through.

"Hey Richard. Step the fuck off from Jackson before I tear those walls apart and crush you with them." JJ growled fiercely. Heathcliff wooped as the groups eyes lit up with various emotions.

"JJ?" Jackson asked quietly, staring over at the camera in the corner of the room. The Judge stared, confusion evident in his face. His usually calm and neutral demeanor had been broken completely.

"What? How did you.." He began to ask. There were loud gunshots as the goons guns pulled themselves from their owners grasps and shot them each in the head. The Judge slowly began to back up towards the exit, eyebrows furrowed.

"Aww, going so soon? Yeah, you better. I'm going to give you three seconds. I suggest you pick a god and pray motherfucker." JJ hissed. That was all The Judge needed to turn on his heel and bolt out the door.

"JJ! How did you do this? What are you, I mean, I don't know what to say." Duncan said, relief rushing through him.

"No time to explain. You guys have to run. I can do long range control of the facility to protect you, but not for long. Get moving! Go!" JJ shouted. The cuffs around everyone's wrists shook before breaking completely apart at the same time as the buzzing sensation of the electromagnetic pulse keeping their upgrades shut off went away. Without the cuffs holding him up, Jackson wobbled before falling over. Julio was just able to catch him and gently pick him up.

"Jackson, hey, stay awake." Matilda said, worry dripping from her voice. Ruby went to grip his hand, chewing on her lip. He looked at his friends with a tired and relieved smile on his face.

"I'm...glad...you're all ok." He breathed as he lost his battle against unconsciousness.

"We need to get moving so we can get him help. Come on." Ruby said quickly, tearing away her gaze. The group quickly shot out of the door and down the hallway. The intercom would turn on and off as JJ called out directions from it at any junctures they came across. Any goons or henchmen or anyone that were unfortunate enough to be in their path were dispatched one way or another. Either by being shot by their own guns, strangled by their handcuffs, crushed by pieces of various metal objects that were around, and various other means. The group could only hope that this would be the last time they were ever in this place.


	76. From the other view

The two rushed down the halls, avoiding any other people who happened to be rushing along as well. JJ's gun had been released as the goon explained who he was and what he was doing, and it swung back and forth from its place across their shoulder.

"We're almost there. Just a few more halls." Paul stated. JJ nodded, setting their mouth into a thin line instead of speaking. They came to a stop in front of a large metal door, and JJ ripped it out of it's place as they slug the gun off their shoulder and into their hands. They shot inside and were already shooting the four goons occupying the room before they could do anything but make gargled shouts of pain as they collapsed to the floor. JJ swallowed back the bile that threatened to come up and forced down the tears that burned at their eyes as they ignored the blood that had splashed onto their face and body. They shot into one of the seats there and scanned the various cameras for their friends.

Finally, they found what they were looking for. Their heart stopped as they saw what was in the room. Most of them were on their knees, each guarded by a goon. This was save for Jackson, the one that they had been hoping to save all this time. He was cuffed to a pole, bloody lines marring his back and dripping down it. And there in front of him, was The Judge holding a gun to his forehead. They felt an overwhelming rage and fear constrict their lungs and take over their mind. They slammed down their hands onto the table and concentrated as hard as they possibly could. Immediately the gun crushed itself.

"Where's the intercom?" They asked. Paul pointed to one of the buttons, confusion and awe painted on his face. JJ slammed down the button.

"Hey Richard. Step the fuck off from Jackson before I tear those walls apart and crush you with them." They growled, hatred dripping from their voice and making it a point to use the mans real name. They watched as their friends lit up and Heathcliff wooped in joy. The Judge muttered something and they quickly dispatched the goons behind their friends.

"Aww, going so soon? Yeah, you better. I'm going to give you three seconds. I suggest you pick a god and pray motherfucker." They hissed as they saw The Judge backing up. He shot away and out of the room, and JJ had to stop themselves from keeping their attention on him as they heard Duncan talk.

"JJ! How did you do this? What are you, I mean, I don't know what to say." He said.

"No time to explain. You guys have to run. I can do long range control of the facility to protect you, but not for long. Get moving! Go!" They ordered as they snapped their shackles and pressed a button to stop the electromagnetic pulse that was going through the lower floors. They watched them gather and get Jackson, before running. After that, they kept up a constant struggle to focus on both them and any obstacle in their path. Their head was pounding and they swore they could feel their blood boiling. They thanked every god that may be out there once the NERDS had reached the exit, as they had already slumped in their seat from exhaustion and black dots threatened to overcome them.

"Alright. You guys...go. I'll c-catch up...to you." They heaved. They saw the worried looks that the group passed between one another, but they did not protest.

"Stay safe, alright?" Ruby called to them. A small smirk tugged at JJ's lips.

"I will. Just...go." They replied. They watched as the NERDS shot out the door, and Benjamin popped out of their pocket to float in front of them.

"You did a good job. Now, lets go home shall w-" Benjamin was cut off by JJ snatching him from the air. He buzzed and was about to protest, but JJ pushed a button on him and the blue light shut off. They stuffed him back in their pocket and turned to Paul once more.

"Take...take me to The Judge's office." They ordered tiredly. Paul's eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"Are you sure? You look like you're about to pass-"

"Just do it!" JJ screeched. Paul flinched away as they pulled themselves up to their feet. Paul attempted to help, but they swatted his hand away with a harsh glare.

Paul gulped but took them both outside and plodded in front of them in order to both keep watch in the front and show them the way. They stumbled along on shaky legs, using the wall to help support them. Black stars danced across their vision as they fought to keep themselves up. Finally the two reached an ornate door, which JJ didn't hesitate to kick open and point the gun into the room. It was empty, save for the metal doors in the back of the room.

"What?" They asked slowly. Paul placed a large hand on their shoulder.

"Boss has a private emergency elevator. He probably used that to escape." He explained. JJ stared in shock, unmoving. They had one chance to finally end it all, and they lost it. They messed it up. Just like most other things they had done on this entire fiasco. They fell to their knees and stared at the wall with a blank expression.

"Are you ok?" Paul asked gently, looking at them with a worried face. They stayed silent for a moment before closing their eyes.

"I fucked it up again." They said quietly. They closed their eyes and stood up. They tossed Paul the gun and wobbled over to the back of the desk before collapsing.

"JJ!" Paul cried, rushing over. JJ looked up at the man with an exhausted expression, obviously on the verge of completely passing out.

"I'm going to...just...sleep for a while. Wake me up...if somebody comes in. I...can't...keep up." They mumbled. Paul looked over at the door nervously before swallowing and nodding.

"I can do that. Don't worry. Just take it easy." He answered.

"Thanks." JJ said, eyes slipping closed. Paul stood up and rounded the desk to watch the door. He just hoped that it would be enough.


	77. A common past

The door to the school slammed open and quivered in it's frame, almost breaking completely as the NERDS shot inside. The group were all wearing faces painted with various emotions such as worry, horror, fear, and shock. Yes, they had escaped the base of The Judge, but they weren't completely out of the gate yet. Not with Jackson in what state he was. His hair was unkept and tangled, blood obvious among the golden and strawberry blonde hair. He was unnaturally light in Julio's arms and felt so utterly frail that it was a passing thought that if he so much as even tapped a finger on him wrong, he would shatter completely. In the wake of their quick pace, they were at the medical room quite fast.

"Give him here. I'm going to need time with this." Heathcliff ordered. Julio obediently placed the man carefully into his arms before backing off. Heathcliff entered the room, and as the creaked door shut, everyone stood in silence. For a few moments, it stayed that way. There was nothing to be said. Nothing that could be said in the wake of what had happened.

A few more seconds ticked by, and Matilda suddenly coughed into her arm.

"I'm going to...go...you know...look out for JJ. You guys should all chill out for a while. God fucking knows we all need it." She stated. Slowly, the NERDS all agreed and began to break off in different directions. Ruby still stood there for a few more moments, simply staring at the door. After a while she was finally able to tear her gaze away and stride off to the makeshift living room area. Much to her surprise, Duncan was sitting there and watching something on the tv. He glanced over at her and gave her a wavering smile.

"Hey Ruby! Want to watch some goosebumps with me?" He asked. It was obvious he was attempting to both comfort her and himself. She sighed.

"Alright." She said, plopping down next to him when he scooted over to make room.

"I remember you used to hate this show. You always said it was childish and unrealistic." Duncan chuckled. Ruby felt a twinge of nostalgia tug at her heart at that.

"And it still is. I've just come to...you know...chill out. I guess. Life happened and at some point I finally pulled the stick out of the mud." She replied. Duncan's lips turned upwards into a small smile.

"Mostly anyway." He said. Ruby gave him a look, although she couldn't hide the very slight upturn of her own lips. For a few minutes, they sat and watched the show until Duncan turned to her again.

"So...I mean...you finally said it." He said before stopping. That might not have been a good thing to say. But surprisingly, Ruby only seemed remorseful.

"I did, didn't I? It took me long enough." She sighed, looking down at her hands. Duncan put a hesitant hand on her back.

"You've grown a lot. You hardly ever even showed much public affection back then. Much less said I love you." He said softly. Ruby nodded and leaned back onto the couch. She reached up and took off her glasses, wiping them off before placing them back on her nose.

"True. For Jackson even less. God I used to hate him so much." She laughed bitterly at the end, memories flashing through her mind of glares shot at the braces clad boy and the harsh exchanging of words.

"I wonder when that changed?" Duncan said. Ruby paused and contemplated it for a moment.

"I don't really know. We were growing up and having our own little things. I had Heathcliff, Jackson had Hyena, and you had Matilda. Although Julio never seemed to want to get involved in any of that." She said thoughtfully. Duncan hummed.

"You never really said what happened with you and Heathcliff either. Or even how you and Jackson started having your thing. Do you mind telling? It's ok if it's a sore subject right now." He asked. Ruby shook her head and crossed her legs.

"It's fine. And I really don't know if I'm honest. Things were getting really busy and the relationship started getting rocky, so we ended up just breaking it off. It just...didn't really work. We thought we would pick it up again at some other time, but we had already moved on at that point and agreed to just keep it platonic. And then Jackson was also having his own little crisis with Hyena while both of them were figuring themselves out, and after Gerdie came back and Hyena sort of figured out she may not actually be the straightest shot around, they ended up breaking up too as you know. After that we had that mission and both of us were captured and...that might have been were it started rolling. It was a weird time for all of us I think." She explained.

Duncan let a single laugh come out of his mouth, nodding. It was strange to think back to all those years ago. They had all changed. They weren't children anymore, that was for sure.

"It was." He replied simply. Once again it went quiet, the tv still playing in the background. Ruby rubbed at her temples and chewed at her lip. The whole conversation was more an attempt to pull her mind away from everything that had happened. That was still happening. Once again she felt her lungs constrict on themselves, choking up slightly. It was times like this she wished she hadn't dropped the stone walls around her heart. Not having them made it so much easier to deal with emotional troubles. She quickly brushed off the thought before standing up.

"I'm going to go see if Heathcliff is done yet." She said shortly. Duncan nodded, waving her off.

"Yeah. You go. But...try to breathe when you see Jackson. I think we both know he's not in a good condition." He responded. Ruby's face dropped, but she nodded.

"I will." She said solemnly. And with that, she stepped out of the room.


	78. Regret or not

Ruby sat next to Jackson's bed, staring blankly at the wall. Anywhere but the pale, almost seemingly lifeless man beside her. The only sign he was alive was the shallow breathing he emitted. Despite her expressionless face, her mind was a blur of emotions and memories of the past days. Heathcliff had said he didn't know when Jackson would wake up. Or even if he would wake up. His nanobytes had been the one thing keeping his body from shutting down completely from all the trauma and nutrition loss, and having them turned off before turning on again sent him into a sort of coma like state due to the shock. It made Ruby's stomach twist around itself. She sighed, putting her head into her shaking hands. She was supposed to be a leader and yet all she had done was nothing. Nada. Not a thing. She was sure that if her past self could see her now, she would be reprimanded heavily before being told to kick into gear and actually do something. But for some reason, she just couldn't. She hated that. Despite all of her changes, one thing that had stayed was her utter hatred of feeling useless. And recently, that's all she had been feeling. Completely and utterly useless.

She would have continued on that train of thought had it not been for the door clicking and swinging slowly open. Julio peeked in, seeing her and giving her a small wave.

"Hey Ruby. I uh, brought tea. I mean, I know you're probably allergic but it might help calm you down. Always helped for me, anyway." He said. Ruby looked down at the tray he held, two steaming cups of the aforementioned beverage atop it. She laughed quietly, shaking her head.

"Alcohol would do better, but thank you." She said. Julio walked over, and she took one of the cups. She took a long gulp of the tea, leaning back into her chair. Julio pulled one up beside her and sat into it.

"So. How are you holding up? I uh, heard the news." He asked softly, looking over at the pale body on the bed and flinching slightly. Ruby sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

"I...really don't know in all honesty. I think I'm still in shock from everything that's happened. This all seems like some kind of giant nightmare." She responded, looking down into the yellow-green liquid in the cup. Julio looked out the small window to the side, tapping on his cup with his fingers.

"It really does, doesn't it?" He laughed bitterly, shaking his head, "When we were younger, villains like this hardly ever popped up. It was usually just some egotistical assholes who have nothing to fall back on once their first plan falls apart. They weren't..." He cut himself off, biting his lip.

"Yeah." Ruby replied quietly. The room went silent again, the only sounds being the soft breathing of the man on the bed. It was only a small comfort to know he was alive in light of what else may happen to him. There was nothing that they could do. Heathcliff had said that he just hoped that the nanobytes would be able to help him after kicking into emergency mode. Julio took another sip of his tea, quiet as the minutes ticked by. There wasn't anything that they could say. Or would say, even. However, Ruby still appreciated the company of her old friend. Another small comfort in the face of everything that had happened. It was almost unbelievable that the man had ever grown out of his severe hyper attitude and jumpiness.

"Do you regret it?" He asked, snapping Ruby out of her thoughts. She gave him a confused look.

"Regret what?" She asked. Julio flinched, flushing slightly and rubbing at his neck in a slightly guilty way.

"I meant do you regret coming?" He elaborated. Ruby stared, going quiet. She opened her mouth, but closed it again after a moment. Almost a full minute passed before she finally gave a shaky and unsure answer.

"I...don't know." She said. Her mouth and throat suddenly felt dry. She took a drink of her tea, now lukewarm, but it didn't seem to wash the dryness away at all. Julio swallowed, looking away.

"Sorry, weird question." He apologized. Ruby quickly shook her head.

"No no, it's ok. Do you regret it?" She answered. Julio jumped, shaking his head furiously.

"No! If I didn't come, I wouldn't have seen you all again, I wouldn't have gotten my upgrades back, I wouldn't have been able to try to protect the world from being taken control of by a villain, I wouldn't have-" He was cut off by the door slamming open, causing both of them to jump in their seats. Matilda stood there, panting and out of breath with a look of horror etched in her face. In her hands was a vest, a turned off Benjamin, and a watch.

"JJ isn't coming back."


	79. Past mistakes and future growth

By this point, Matilda was sure that life was falling down around each and every one of them at every single turn. They had a villain taking over the world, they had a comatose and more than likely extremely traumatized Jackson, they had a missing JJ who had left absolutely no clues to where they had gone, they had a Ruby who had refused to leave Jackson's side for days, and finally, the last nail in the coffin, they had no fucking clue what to do next. She could bullshit herself and say that she did, but she truly didn't. Everything was spiraling completely out of their hands and into the cruel tide of fate, and all they could do was desperately grasp at something to hold onto. She had said it before, but she didn't usually smoke. God knew it was horrible, especially for her considering her condition. Although she couldn't say her asthma hadn't gotten much better, all considered. She tossed the cigarette onto the pavement and stomped it out with her heel before heading back inside. The weather was much colder now. She would be surprised if it didn't start snowing soon. The inside of the building was much warmer, courtesy of The Playground's generator. If it didn't have one, the entire place likely wouldn't have electricity or water or anything of the sort.

For a few moments, she allowed her thoughts to sweep her away. It wasn't something she usually did, considering that she prided herself on constantly being aware of her surroundings and the situation at hand. But for that moment, she let herself relax. She found herself wandering into the kitchen and gathering various items. Chai tea. Spiced cider mix. Caramel sauce. She boiled some water, mixing the ingredients before taking the hot drink and plopping down into one of the seats of the cafeteria. The door to the hall opened behind her, and someone was soon sitting down beside her. Neither of them talked for a while, until finally, she did.

"It's weird. Seeing this place so empty." She said quietly.

"Yeah. I know." Duncan responded. Matilda let out a small laugh, taking another sip of her drink.

"I never wanted to go. I always thought that if I ever stopped being in this, that I would go back to how it used to be. Friendless. Spending nights in the hospital because of how bad I got. Unable to get my anger out in a good way. Turns out I was wrong." She said. Duncan nodded in understanding.

"I don't think any of us wanted to leave. For one reason or another, we all just wanted to stay here. With each other." He sighed. Matilda smiled bitterly at that, taking yet another sip of the drink.

"And yet we ended up separated anyway." She said. Duncan grimaced and looked away. Matilda examined him closely for a couple of seconds, taking in the changes he had been through since she had last saw him. He was taller. That was for sure. Still short, but taller.

"I'm sorry." She said. His head whipped around so he could stare at her, wide eyed.

"Sorry? For what?" He asked, incredulous. Matilda opened her mouth, but closed it again. She swallowed as her mouth went dry. She took a drink. Then another. And another before finally putting it down.

"I was the one who messed our relationship up." She said. He blinked, eyebrows furrowing for a moment before putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Mat, no..." He said. She shrugged of his shoulder and punched the table, making him jump.

"Yes! I did! I always let work get in the way. Actually, no. Not just fucking work. I would go to work, win a match, do all the other stuff before going off to party and get smashed until one in the damn morning and come home drunk and with no energy left. That's how it always fucking was. Work, party, get wrecked, come home, repeat. You didn't deserve any of that shit, ok?" She cried, waving her hands about.

Duncan continued to stare at her. His mouth was open slightly in complete surprise as he struggled to find words that wouldn't come.

"Matilda, I..." He stopped, biting down on his lip. For a few seconds he stayed completely silent before letting out a long sigh.

"Look. It's ok, alright? Yeah. We messed up a lot. Not just you. I did my own things that I'm not proud of either. Although we never cheated on each other, there are still things that we didn't work out. That's why we broke up. To get our bearings. But I never should have let us drift apart for so many years like that. Let's leave the past in the past, ok?" He said. Matilda stared at him some more before a small smile slowly crossed her face.

"Yeah. Ok." She replied. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around him. He was quick to return the gesture, resting his head atop hers and allowing it to go on a little longer than would normally be considered necessary.


	80. Facing guilt

Heathcliff shuffled through the notes he had made throughout the past few days, looking between them and the computer before him. A mostly empty coffee mug sat beside him that was most certainly cold by this point. Despite this, he swallowed the rest before getting up once more and exiting the room.

Soft sunshine shone through the windows of the school, lighting up the halls that he walked down. It was funny how something he had always hated waking up to in the morning was now one of the things he treasured most. Chances are it was because he had no idea if one of these days would be his last time seeing it.

No matter, he brushed off the dark thoughts that had invaded his head and snapped out of autopilot to see he was exactly where he needed to be. He opened the door to the room and stepped inside.

There weren't any changes. Jackson was still out and Ruby was...still there.

Heathcliff groaned slightly at the sight of Ruby, head lolled to the side and arms crossed as she let out soft snores every so often. He didn't want to wake her up considering how early it was, so he set to quietly changing Jackson's bandages and whatever else he needed to. Thankfully Ruby didn't stir. She likely needed the sleep, if the dark circles under her eyes said anything.

Heathcliff finished his work, cracking his knuckles after the fact. He turned to leave when he heard a faint shifting behind him. He turned to see Ruby beginning to sit up, reaching up to rub at her eyes. He turned to her and crossed his arms.

"You know, if you keep sleeping like that you'll get cramps like nobody's business." He stated. Ruby jerked at his voice, eyes slowly opening to focus on him with a groggy expression. She adjusted her glasses and wiped away the gunk from the corners of her eyes.

"And I'm assuming you have first hand experience?" She answered, voice slightly croaky.

"You would have no idea." He replied with a snort. His expression dropped again however, shifting to a sterner one.

"So. Are you going to keep moping around in this room forever, or are you actually going to get up and not make us force you to get food and take a shower?" He said. Ruby blinked at him before rubbing her face with a sigh.

"I told you. I don't want to risk not being here when he wakes up. Chances are he's not going to be too good mentally. I...he...look. If he breaks down when he wakes up, and I'm not there, that's on me. I have to be here, Heathcliff." She said. Heathcliff gave her a flat look.

"Ruby. I know you want to be here when he wakes up. But jesus fucking christ, actually do something other than sit there and watch him all day. It's been two full weeks. He's not going to freak out if he wakes up and you're not there. He's not going to die if you're not there either. Get it?" He said firmly. Ruby looked down for a moment, gripping at her pants. She let out a heavy sigh and closed her eyes.

"You don't get it. I should have seen this coming. All of this. I should have been able to stop this. If I had went with him-"

"You would have been caught and tortured right alongside him." Heathcliff said frustratedly, flinging out his arms to the side. He leveled a glare at her despite his attempts to keep it at bay. It was not lost on Ruby, who flinched slightly. Heathcliff's expression softened after a couple of tense seconds and he sighed. He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Look. I get it, ok? But you need to get it in your head that this wasn't your fault. I had this talk with JJ, and dammit I'll have it with you too if I need to. But the truth of the matter is that you need to get your ass up and stop crying about the things you can't control." He said. It took a few seconds for Ruby to meet his gaze, seeming conflicted. She opened her mouth before closing it again, swallowing a lump in her throat. She took a few breaths and closed her eyes.

Heathcliff jumped slightly as she suddenly wrapped her arms around his torso in a hug, burying her head into his shoulder. He froze up in surprise, hands hovering over her back for a few moments. He finally relaxed and wrapped his own arms around her to return the hug. He could feel her shaking slightly as wet spots began to appear where her head was. He guessed that was one thing that hadn't changed about her. The completely silent crying. It would be almost unnerving if he hadn't been used to it. The two stayed like that for a good few minutes, still and silent. Eventually, however, Ruby finally pulled away as she took a couple deep breaths. She rubbed at her now slightly bloodshot eyes as a small flush came to her face.

"That never happened." She said, glaring and pointing a finger in Heathcliff's face. He chuckled and grinned back.

"Sure it didn't. Now come on. Let's get some breakfast and get you out of this room, ok?" He replied. She nodded slowly, taking the hand he offered her. And finally, the two exited the room.


	81. Welcome back to the world of the wake

For a second, it was dark. Brief unintelligible noises and bits of light broke through the dark too fast to pick up on, along with sensations almost like touching but not quite. Then there was a flash, and he was awake.

Jackson groaned slightly, clenching his eyes shut against the light that assaulted them. His throat was dry and someone was laying on his chest. Surprisingly it didn't hurt. Pain killers most likely. How long had he been out for? He opened his eyes slowly, bringing a hand up to rub at them before focusing on the person laying on top of him. It was Ruby. Her glasses sat askew on her face, and her hair was out of it's usual tight bun, causing it to splay out over her face. Her chest rose and fell in an even tempo, obviously asleep. Jackson brushed a few stray hairs out of her face, careful to not wake her up. He smiled and settled back down.

He was out. Finally. He was safe.

It was a relieving thought. No more torture or anything else. He thanked every god that may be out there for that fact. He closed his eyes again, staring up at the ceiling.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that, but somewhere along the line he began to feel warm tears streaking down his face. It felt too good to be true. He gripped the sheets, rubbing his thumb along them as if testing to see if they were real. And real they were. He knew it was, as any dreams he had were always covered in haze, but it didn't hurt to make sure. He sniffled and raised a hand up to his eyes, wiping the tears away and letting out a single chuckle filled with every bit of relief and hope he felt in that moment.

His moment was suddenly cut short by a noise. He perked up slightly before shrinking back down. It was a sound he knew well. Heavy footsteps echoing down the empty hall. His heart began to race and his breath quickened, zeroing in on the door. He tried to rationalize with his fears, but something wasn't letting him. A haze of panic began closing in on his mind as his hands grew a white knuckled grip on the sheets below him. When the door finally swung open, his heart skipped a beat or two. He tensed, ready to fight or run at any moment.

Relief flooded his system as he saw Duncan, looking down at the two cups of some kind of steaming beverage, being careful not to let them spill. He carefully walked over to the table in the room, setting them down. It was then that Jackson finally spoke.

"Hey Duncan." He croaked, voice cracking and unused.

"Hey Jackson." Duncan replied distractedly. The man suddenly stopped, eyebrows furrowing. His eyes suddenly shot open as he whirled around to face the other man, jaw dropped. Jackson quickly held a finger up to his mouth before pointing at Ruby. Duncan barely registered it, simply staring wide eyed. He closed his mouth finally, a grin stretching across his face as he crossed the room and wrapped his arms around Jackson's neck.

"Holy shit! You're awake! Jesus, I-" He stopped himself, closing his mouth, pulling back, and glancing at Ruby. She barely stirred, only shifting slightly.

Duncan rubbed at his neck, a grin still present on his face as he shook his head and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Sorry. Just...we were are really worried. Ruby most of all. You be been down for a good few weeks." He said. Jackson gave him a wide eyed look.

"Weeks???" He asked incredulously. Duncan nodded.

"Yeah. See, your nanobytes had kinda gone into overdrive when you were in there, and having them suddenly shut off and put on again so suddenly was a shock to your system. It was a miracle you even stayed awake for as long as you did." He said. Jackson looked down at Ruby, biting his cheek.

"Damn." He said quietly.

He didn't know what he had expected really. Death, maybe. He was certainly on the brink of it when they saved him. Or maybe that's only how it felt. Either way, it was still a shocking thought. The fact that he was back here in the first place still felt like a dream. He had a feeling it was going to feel like that for a while.

Duncan chuckled before turning.

"You're probably really hungry. And thirsty. I have some tea here, and I'll go get some food for you after I tell Heathcliff what's up. He'll want to do an examination." He said, taking one of the still warm cups and handing it over. Jackson nodded, gratefully taking the cup and chugging it down within seconds. It felt like heaven to wet his throat with something after that long being asleep.

"Jackson, are you alright?" Duncan said. Jackson needed to take a second to think about it before answer.

"I think. For now, anyway. I...it's just...overwhelming. To be back after..." He stopped, clenching his eyes shut for a moment. Duncan's expression softened further, and he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I know. But it's ok. You're safe now, and I'll be damned if any of us let something happen to you again. You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. We all know the things they did to you in there were...unspeakable. But it's going to be ok now." He said gently.

Jackson smiled slightly, patting Duncan's hand with his own.

"Nice to know. You better go get Heathcliff now. Hopefully I'm not still that badly beat up." He said, chuckling bitterly at the end. Duncan nodded.

"Right. I'll see you again in a bit." He responded, turning to the door and walking back.

"And Jackson?" He said. The aforementioned man hummed in question.

"It's good to have you back." Duncan finished. Jackson smiled at him as he left before looking back up at the ceiling. One of his hands combed gently through Ruby's hair, careful of any knots as he lost himself in his head once more.

It was strange to think he had been out for so long. He cursed himself for forgetting to ask questions about what had happened after he passed out. He hoped everyone was safe at least. He didn't know what he would do if they weren't. It was nice to feel the warm sun against his skin as well. Being stuck in a cell below ground for however long wasn't exactly healthy for the mind or body. He didn't want to go back to that place any time soon. The mere thought of it made him shudder and his heart skip a beat. He closed his eyes, taking a few deep breaths. He was fine. It was fine.

The pressure on his chest suddenly shifted, and a small groan and yawn came from the woman. Ruby rolled her head so her chin instead rested on his chest and adjusted the her glasses on her face with groggy movements. Her eyes opened slowly to focus on Jackson, barely registering the fact that he was looking right back at her. He grinned.

"Morning, sunshine. Comfy?" He chuckled. Ruby's eyes shot open wide and she jerked straight up.

"Jackson!" She yelped. Finally, not inhibited by a sleeping woman on his chest, he sat up completely.

"Ruby." He responded in a teasing tone.

Ruby's mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, stumbling over words she couldn't quite get out. Finally, she settled for leaping into his chest and wrapping her arms around him in a crushing hug. He wheezed for a moment.

"Whoa there, the Ruby I knew never jumped into my arms. You're crushing me." He laughed. Despite his words, he almost didn't want her to let go at all. Ruby pulled back, a half hearted glare on her face.

"You...I..." She stopped again, choking up slightly. She suddenly leapt onto him again, pressing her lips onto his. This time, he returned the affection. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in slightly as tears pricked at his eyes once again. He felt small wet spots on her cheeks, signifying the fact that he wasn't the only one that was getting emotional.

The two didn't break away for what seemed like forever, only pulling back when the need for air grew too great.

"God, I was so scared you would never wake up." Ruby said shakily. Jackson pressed his forehead against hers, smiling.

"You should know me. I could never stay away from you guys for too long." He replied. Ruby let out a small, tearful laugh, and they kissed again.

{Rewrote this a bit because 2 o clock me thinks it wasn't emotional enough. And since I am, in fact, 2 o clock me at the moment, I am in charge. So more feels it is}


	82. Alone again

For the first week, JJ hadn't known where to go. They didn't want to go somewhere they would be in danger, or somewhere people like the cps would pick them up or something. So they wandered. From store to abandoned hotel, they hopped from place to place in an attempt to find a place that felt like home.

They knew from the start it was a fruitless task.

It wasn't long until they had come back to where it had all began. Home. Their real home. Or, past home more correctly. Once this was all over it wouldn't be long until said home would have something done with it since their moms had been killed. They wondered how many more homes would have the same thing happen. Left empty of any life or family when it had previously been brimming with it. Or how many families left abandoned? Children without parents, parents without children, siblings without their other halves, widowed wives and husbands. They continued to try to push those thoughts away. It wasn't something that they needed to be thinking about.

Their home felt uncomfortably empty. It was strange. Even when they had been home alone before, it had never felt that empty. It was cold too on account of the fact that the electricity, and thusly the heating, was off and it was beginning to get colder as they began shifting into the fall months. It was getting close to their birthday too.

To bad they didn't have anyone to share it with this time.

But that didn't matter now as they lay on the floor of the kitchen, staring at the ceiling. It was something they had always done when they weren't feeling well. It seemed like a ridiculous thing to do, but it was a good place to think. Soft music played from the music box beside them; another thing made by their mom. Weapons weren't the only thing she had made in her time.

They knew they should be back at the base with the others, but they couldn't. It was too late to go back now, even if there had been a chance before. What would they even say? The others would be disappointed in them. Or worse.

The guilt and fear weighing on their mind proved too much to deal with, and they had ran. Just like they did with so many other things. Stupid.

They growled loudly, gripping their hair and flipping over on their stomach. They stayed there for a few more moments before finally pushing themselves up to their feet to begin to pace.

Yes, this place was good to think in, but it was boring as well. Dandy wasn't here to play with, no electricity to use so they could charge their phone or watch tv with, and it hadn't snowed yet either so there was nothing they could sled or make snowmen with. Sure they had books and puzzles and the like, but they would never keep them busy for more than a few minutes until they felt the need to move on. They had practiced using their upgrades, finding out the small fact that items didn't have to be in their detect line of sight for them to grab them, they just needed to know where the object was.

Cool, but ultimately pretty useless. They usually only used it to grab things they weren't tall enough to reach or hold multiple things while they did something else. Or fly on occasion. But they hardly did that now.

On the subject of their powers, they briefly wondered how deadly it could be. They had certainly already used it to...

To...

Their pacing stopped suddenly as the memories flooded back in. The sounds of gunshots. The screams of agonized pain as stray pieces of metal pierced through soft flesh and organs. Blood splashing onto the walls and ground. They felt bile rise up, burning their throat as it went. They swallowed it back down and tried to push away the memories. They were shaking and sweating, legs feeling close to buckling. They took a seat on the floor to steady their breathing and curled into a small ball.

They never should have ran. At least if they had stayed they would have felt safe.

"Fuck!" They cried. It wasn't aimed at anything specific, but rather a general statement of hatred toward the situation. The world seemed like it was coming down, and they were right in the middle of it. Nothing was going right. They hated it.

It took a long time to realize that they were crying as they lay there, cheek pressed against the cold floor. They had never felt as alone as they had in that moment.


	83. At the end of the day

"Fuck." Jackson cursed as he wobbled on his feet again. Ruby was quick to help steady him, concern evident in her face.

"Are you sure you don't need a wheelchair?" She asked. He shook his head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I guess a while without using your legs can really mess them up. I'll probably be fine in a few hours." He replied, smiling slightly. Ruby sighed, the concern fading into a humoured smile.

"Sure you will." She responded.

The two continued down the hall at the same slow pace until they finally arrived at the door of the cafeteria. They were almost immediately met by Julio and Heathcliff. Julio threw his arms around Jackson, a wide grin on his face.

"Jackson! Hey! Back in the land of the living I see! We were worried!" He cried. Jackson chuckled at his friends excitement and patted him on the back.

"Thanks, bud." He said.

Heathcliff shooed him away before taking his place.

"Jackson, are you walking alright? Any aches or pains? Anything?" He asked. Jackson shook his head.

"I'm fine, Heathcliff. Don't worry. You did a good job of patching me up." He replied. Heathcliff flushed at the praise, rubbing the back of his neck and grinning.

"It wasn't a problem. The only really big problems I had were with your shoulders. With lack of any proper stitching or anything, it was pretty bad." He said. Jackson flinched, remembering what had caused them. Heathcliff didn't fail to notice, shrinking slightly.

"Oh, no, I'm so sorry." He apologized. Jackson waved him off and gave him a

"It's fine." He said. Heathcliff bit his lip but nodded.

"Alright. If you feel anything wrong, come to me asap." He said. He gave Jackson a pat on the back before turning to make his way over to his table.

Ruby glanced at Jackson who seemed to be staring down at the ground, eyebrows furrowed in some kind of unrecognizable emotion. She opened her mouth to speak, but she was cut off by a loud voice shouting across the cafeteria.

"Hey! Guys! Over here!" Matilda cried, waving her arms wildly. Duncan sat next to her, shaking his head with a small smirk on his face. Jackson waved back and the couple made their way over to sit by the other two.

"It's good to see you're up and around after so long." Matilda said, grinning. Jackson chuckled and shrugged slightly.

"Thanks. I guess I just couldn't stay away. It's nice to see all of you guys too. Except uh..." He trailed off, glancing around the room. One missing.

"Where's JJ? Knowing them, they should've been all over me by now." He said.

It was like a switch was flipped at that moment. The mood of the table suddenly became tense and almost awkward, the other three looking away from his gaze. Jackson's eyebrows furrowed.

"What happened?" He said. The three cringed, and Duncan finally swallowed before meeting his gaze.

"Well. Ah, how do I put this? JJ is kinda, well, gone. We had gotten you out, and they said that we should get moving and they would be right behind us. We got back and waited, but they never came. Matilda went out to wait for them, but some ex goon guy was the only one who showed up. He had your vest, Benjamin, and JJ's watch. He said that they said not to come looking for them. Matilda nearly killed him, but we let him go. We checked everywhere we could. Their house, around all the stores in town, and a hell of a lot more places too. No luck. We're still looking." He explained. Jackson had only gotten paler as the explanation went on. He suddenly stood up again, turning on his heel and beginning to leave. Ruby blinked in surprise, looking back and forth between the other three before quickly making her way to his side.

"Jackson? Jackson, what's wrong? Are you ok?" She asked.

"I'm fine. I just...need to think. I only just woke up and hey! Some new horse shit has come up. Just fucking dandy." He replied bitterly. Ruby put a hand on his shoulder and stepped in front of him.

"That's fine. How about this. You can come sleep in my room. I can get some food, and we can chill out together, alright?" She asked.

Jackson blinked at her, flushing slightly before shaking it off and nodding.

"Yeah...yeah. Ok. That sounds...nice." He said. Ruby smiled gently at him, giving him a small peck on the lips before helping him over to her room. Keeping her word, she went back to the cafeteria to get food for the two of them, and within a few minutes the two lay on her bed, Ruby laying back with one arm wrapped around Jackson's shoulder, his head resting on her chest.

The two ate their respective meals, occasionally stopping to make idle comments or passing mentions of events in their lives. But eventually the food was finished and it became quiet, the sounds of crickets chirping outside being the only noise other than the sound of their own breathing.

Jackson stared out one of the windows, taking in the dark scenery lit only by a half moon. Ruby's hand gently brushed through his hair, her own eyes closed. Jackson glanced back at Ruby for a moment, then back out the window.

"Hey. Ruby." He asked softly. Ruby opened one eye with an inquiring cocked brow.

"Hm?" Came her quiet reply.

"Do you regret being here?" He asked. Ruby's hand faltered for a second, contemplating. She sighed, slumping down farther into the bed.

"I don't know. And truly, I don't honestly think I'll know until this is all over." She replied. Jackson hummed in response, satisfied with her answer.

Ruby eventually lay down completely on the bed, pulling her glasses from her face and placing them on the table beside it. She rolled on her side, pushing Jackson to roll over as well, before pulling him in close to her chest and resting one arm over him. He turned and leaned his head back to give her a small kiss, which she returned, before settling once more, enjoying the presence and warmth on his back. Eventually the couples breathing slowed, and they both drifted off to sleep.

{Hey yall. real sorry about the delay in any work, but i got pretty sick and couldnt do anything for a bit. But im better and chapters should continue as usual now!}


	84. Nightmares

Nightmares. Jackson had dealt with them many times in the past, especially after his moms death. After a while they had thankfully faded away. He should be used to them by now. But lo and behold, at four in the morning he found his eyes shooting open, already brimming with tears as he tumbled from the bed and onto the floor. He shook and gasped for breath that didn't seem to want to be drawn in.

He could still feel the phantom pains ghosting across his body as the nightmare flashed through his mind again. Blood. Screams that he couldn't be sure weren't his own. The sadistic grin he knew all too well and the feeling of knives tearing him apart.

He gripped at his chest, barely noticing the faint creaking of the bed behind him and the small, worried gasp.

"Jackson?" Ruby asked, grogginess fading from her voice as she pushed herself from the bed and over to Jackson. He bit his lip hard enough to draw blood, his eyes darting over to her.

"Jackson. Breathe. You're having a panic attack." She said, kneeling in front of him and gently placing her hands on his shoulders. She could feel him shaking like a leaf under her touch. Her brows furrowed harder as she pulled him into a comforting hug and rubbed small circles onto his back.

"Hey. It's ok, you're safe." She shushed gently. He burried his face into her shoulder, making an effort to try to take deep breaths. It wasn't his first rodeo. He already knew how it went.

Neither of them knew exactly how long it took for him to calm down, but after a long while, Jackson finally took one last shaky breath before pulling away.

"Sorry. I...it's late. You shouldn't have to had to wake up to deal with me. He said, rubbing his neck. Ruby shook her head as she got back to her feet, pulling Jackson with her.

"No. It's fine. I'll make some tea. Want to come with me, or do you want to stay here?" She replied.

"I'll come." He said. Ruby nodded, taking his hand as they walked out of the room and down the halls to the cafeteria.

Soon after, the two of them were seated at at table, sipping away at the hot drinks. Jackson glanced over at her when she mumbled something under her breath.

"What was that?" He asked. Ruby blinked as she realized she had said it aloud.

"Oh. Well, I was just thinking that these nightmares aren't just going to be a one time thing. They never are. But tea can help sometimes. So I was just thinking that maybe I should just get some kind of tea maker in here so we don't always have to be walking to the cafeteria at 1am to get it." She responded, chuckling slightly at the end. Jackson hummed and nodded slightly.

"Sounds good, honestly. Do any of the places around even sell them though?" He said.

"Oh yeah. A lot of places sell them. Usually around the big stores we run to for supplies. Never thought of picking one up until now." Ruby chuckled. She went quiet for a second before letting out a long sigh.

She looked at Jackson, eyebrows furrowing for a moment. He blinked at her, confused.

"Ruby? What's-" He cut himself off as she reached forward to gently cup his face.

"Ruby?" He asked again. She closed her eyes, suddenly wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him in. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Ruby was finally able to let him go, albeit reluctantly.

"I'm...sorry. It's just..." She trailed off, looking away and out the window of the still dark outside.

"I was so fucking terrified that I was going to loose you. I never wanted that to happen again. I know I barely ever said this back then, but I love you. I was too stubborn to ever say it. Too stuck up in my own ways to let myself open up. So I'm going to say it as much as I can now. I love you. And I never want to loose you like that again." She said, looking back to stare him in the eyes as she said it. She coughed into her arm a few times, face flushed.

Jackson blinked in surprise at her, registering her words slowly. A smile crossed his face, and he cupped hers in his hands as he did.

"I love you too." He replied finally, leaning in to kiss her.

After they broke for air, Jackson wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She leaned her head on his for a moment before looking back down at the cups before them.

"The tea went cold." She stated. Jackson laughed, smirking at her.

"I'm guessing you're allergic to cold tea?" He asked. Ruby glared, not bothering to hide her own smile.

"Yes, in fact, I am." She replied. Jackson snorted.

"Of course you are."


	85. Fun day

"Hey you two! What are you doing up so early?" Came the question from the door of the living room. Jackson nearly jumped out of the seat as he whirled to face the intruder, Ruby glancing over as well. The familiar short, muscular form of Matilda stood leaning in the doorway, eyebrow raised at the couple. Jackson seemed to relax slightly as he saw who it was.

"I could ask the same question to you, Matilda." Ruby retorted. Matilda chuckled slightly.

"Touche. I have an early work out schedule. Gotta keep up these flawless muscles somehow, ey?" She said. Jackson laughed while Ruby rolled her eyes.

"But really. How you guys holding up?" Matilda asked seriously. Jackson's face dropped slightly despite his attempts to keep it up, shrugging slightly.

"I'm fine as I can be." He replied simply. Ruby gave him a small squeeze on the shoulder as she looked at him for a moment before turning back to the other woman.

"I'm alright too." She said. Matilda hummed, pushing off of the wall.

"Well then, I'll leave you two lovebirds alone. You know where to find me if you need me." She said, waving slightly before exiting the room once more. Her footsteps faded away before leaving the room in silence once more.

Ruby sank back into the couch with a long sigh, looking up at the ceiling.

"Ready for a boring day?" She asked after a moment, giving a half hearted smirk at Jackson. He chuckled and shrugged, sinking back with her.

"Honestly, I think that's exactly what I need." He replied.

The day drew on just as expected. The others woke up slowly, groggily getting on with their usual morning routines before going to breakfast, then breaking off to do whatever it was that they wanted to do. Although Duncan, Julio, and Heathcliff planned to go out on a supply run later. It was calm. With the approaching winter months, it was the perfect time to cozy up and drape a blanket over their shoulders. However for Jackson and Ruby, this calm was eventually broken by a loud, familiar shout.

"Ruby!" The young voice cried through the hall. The two turned to see Noah barreling towards them, near frantic.

"Noah? What's wrong?" Ruby asked, eyebrows furrowed. Noah slid to a stop in front of the two and hunched over onto his knees for a moment to gasp for air. Once he was done catching his breath, he once again looked up at them.

"It's Dandy!" He stated.

"Is there something wrong? Did she get sick or something?" Jackson asked. Noah shook his head.

"No, but she might! It's getting cold out, and what if the coop JJ made isn't enough to keep her warm? I don't want Dandy to freeze! What should I do?" He cried. Jackson and Ruby gave one another a look, both unsure of what to say.

"Uh, you don't happen to know how to take care of chickens do you?" Jackson asked Ruby. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed before crossing her arms.

"No. I don't. But we can look something up. How about that?" She replied, looking at Noah. He seemed to relax slightly, nodding.

"Ok. I just don't want Dandy to die or something while JJ is away." He said. Ruby swallowed at that, but wrapped her arm around his shoulders and squeezed him slightly.

"Don't worry. I'm sure she won't. JJ will be back soon and they'll be able to take care of Dandy, alright? Now lets go do some research." She said. At the statement, she felt her tongue swell slightly. She ignored it, however, standing straight and beginning to lead the two down the hall to the computer lab.

They spent the rest of the day researching the various ways of keeping chickens in the cold. It was fun in a way, finding and pointing out particular methods of chicken keeping before putting them to work. Dandy didn't seem to mind the three meddling with her coop and the like, simply clucking away and being as affectionate as she ever was, despite her proceeding to steal a head of lettuce that Jackson had left unattended, causing a ten minute chase to ensue in an attempt to take said lettuce back. At some point the others had gotten involved as well, suddenly beginning to stray the project from a simple care procedure to a decorative endeavor to see how fancy they could make the coop. Ruby had been wrong when she had said the day would be boring, but it had turned out better than she would have hoped. Even though Dandy had given her more than a few allergic reactions.


	86. Lead

Another couple days, another couple nights with barely any sleep. To Jackson, it was a bitter reminder of what might come as a result of it. He didn't doubt that Ruby would would eventually tire of waking up when he did and staying up for another hour or more in order to help him calm down from the inevitable panic attack that would wash over him as soon as he rolled out of bed.

The others would tire of him too, no doubt. What with him nearly dissolving into a panic just from footsteps down the hall or small pinches of pain, even small static shocks.

He chastised himself for being scared of such tiny harmless things, but it didn't help that no matter how he tried, they still made him, dare he say it, terrified. For seconds at a time he would completely forget he was in the base and not the cold, dark cell that he had been in for god knows how long.

Needless to say it wasn't the most pleasurable experience. Out of the fireplace and into a campfire as he would say.

He was about to continue the train of thought when he was suddenly jerked out of his head by a set of fingers snapping in front of his face.

"Jackson. Are you alright? I called your name three times and you didn't answer." Ruby said, her eyebrows furrowed in obvious concern. Jackson blinked at her, bewildered as he glanced around again. In his thought, he had completely forgotten that he was in one of the large stores near the base, looking for supplies.

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. Just got a little lost in thought." Jackson replied, laughing awkwardly. Ruby's eyebrows furrowed slightly more, but she seemed to take the answer.

"Alright then. Could you go over to the pharmacy area and grab some more medical supplies?" She asked. Jackson nodded.

"Sure. No problem." He answered, adjusting the backpack he was carrying.

With that, he turned on his heel and began making his way through the tall shelves towards the pharmaceutical section.

When he arrived, he wasted no time in examining any products before putting them in the bag. Bandaids, bandages, antiseptic cream, and the like. After grabbing the items, he decided to do one final sweep before getting back to Ruby. He walked about, passing by the medicine counter before stopping and taking a second look sitting there was a notepad and a number of colored pencils and markers. Strange, considering most pharmacists didn't use colored pencils and markers.

Jackson stepped up, leaping over the counter and onto the other side. He flinched at the slight pain in his shoulder and arms, but dealt with it. He knelt next to the notebook, picking it up and shuffling through it.

He felt his heart suddenly stop. They were drawings of a certainly recognizable style. JJ's style. He swallowed hard, continuing to shuffle through the drawings. At first they were just random, but they slowly shifted into familiar forms. All of the NERDS appeared at different intervals, doing different things. Whether it was simply standing and smiling, using their upgrades, or something else. The other two figures he recognized were their moms, usually in pictures with JJ, holding hands. Another minute passed, and he came to the last page. A simple crude picture of a house with JJ in the window, staring out with a frown.

Jackson's eyebrows furrowed, standing up once more. JJ had been here. Had they been...moving around? Or were they just away for the moment? He stood up, turning back and hopping over the counter once more, quickly making his way to where Ruby was. As soon as he saw her, he began running to her.

"Ruby! Come here! You need to look at this!" He shouted. She looked at him, confused as he stopped before her. "I-I think JJ was here." He said, not allowing her the time to question him as he shoved the notebook into her hands. She flipped through it, eyes growing progressively wider.

"You're right. We need to get this back to the others. It might be a lead." She said. Suddenly she stopped, flipping to one of the pages.

"Hold on...is that...blood?" She said slowly, looking at the page. Jackson blinked, looking at where she was.

In the corner of the page she had flipped to was a large, dark red stain. Even if she didn't have her upgrades, both of them would have recognized a blood stain anywhere. What from the line of work they had been in. Jackson swallowed as he felt fear rise in his chest. Had something happened to them?

"Come on. We need to go." Ruby said quickly, slamming the notebook shut and shoving it into her own pack. Jackson nodded.

"Right." He said, following her out of the door and back into the light of day. They didn't need to voice their thoughts, as they were already conveyed clear across each of their faces as they strode down the empty streets, worried for what was to come.


	87. Be ok

"So what are we supposed to do with this? We can't exactly use this to track them!" Matilda's frustrated voice rang through the library, the group sitting around the center table seeming to flinch away from her for a moment.

"Technically no, but it's something. Like Jackson said, if they dropped something somewhere and there wasn't anymore signs of them having been there, they could have been moving around as a way to keep their trail cold." Ruby replied, gripping the object that was the start of this whole argument in a white knuckled grip.

"So what do we do? Recheck everywhere we've already checked? It would be impossible to find them that way. If they really have been moving, it's not likely they would go back to the same spot twice. Look. They may be irrational and impulsive and generally too quick to jump into things without thinking them through, but they are far from being the dull blade of the bunch. They're pretty smart in fact. They know how to get around without being caught. Even if we were in the same area as them, we likely still wouldn't find them because of that fact." Heathcliff stated to the others.

"But we don't know if we don't try." Jackson grit out. Ruby glanced over at him, taking a moment to look over his tense body before putting her hand on his leg in a comforting gesture.

"Just...look. We're all worried. We all want to find them and make sure they're ok. We can try rechecking, but if we don't find anything, we'll have to go back to square one and figure out another way to find them." Duncan said gently, attempting to calm the tense atmosphere that had settled around the group. It took a couple seconds, but Ruby finally let out a long sigh and rubbed her temples.

"...Alright then. It's settled then. We'll head out tomorrow. Duncan, you're going to hit the department store, the grocery store, and the clothing store. Heathcliff and Matilda, you two check the shopping mall. Julio, I want you to check all the gas stations in the area. Jackson, you can hit JJ's house and the matress stores, if that's alright with you. I will be scouting out the outside alleys and whatever nooks and crannies I can find. Everyone understand?" She said. The team nodded in unison, agreeing with her terms before finally breaking off from the meeting.

A few minutes later, Ruby and Jackson were in their room laying together, Jackson sitting at a slight angle against the headboard with Ruby against his chest, silently reading a book. The tenseness from the earlier meeting had them both still tense, despite the situation being over with.

"Hey, Ruby?" Jackson asked after a few minutes. Ruby hummed in question, looking away from her book to glance up at him.

"Uh, do you think...that...JJ might have tried to leave the borders?" He asked slowly. Ruby felt her jaw lock at the thought. She looked down into her lap, thinking hard.

"Well...no. I don't...I hope not. I really hope not." Ruby replied quietly with a tense look.

Jackson stayed silent, looking away and out the window to the outside. The sun was just beginning to set behind the large metal walls that surrounded their base, causing rays of light to dance along the topmost edges of it and even more to spill through the gaps. If the tense atmosphere hadn't decided to stick around, he would have mentioned it to Ruby. But he suspected he didn't need to. She liked the sunset as much as the next person, after all.

As the sun finally dipped below the horizon and doused the world with a dark sky spattered with stars, the two found their tenseness dissipating with it. As it did, Ruby finally turned to give Jackson a small, soft peck on the lips.

"We should be getting to the cafeteria now. I suspect Julio is almost done with dinner by now." She said. Jackson simply hummed in response, tightening his grip around her abdomen slightly and resting his head on her shoulder. She sighed, placing her own onto his and waiting until he finally decided to move. Once he did, the two finally left the comforts of the bed and began to exit.

"You know what, Ruby?" Jackson said. Ruby looked over, rasing a brow slightly in question.

"Yes, Jackson?" She answered. Jackson went quiet, glancing back into their room and at the notebook that sat on the bedside table.

"I...I think it'll be ok." He said after a moment. Ruby took a moment to blink at him before smiling slightly.

"I hope so. I really hope so."

[Sorry yall for no updates, my creative juice ran out and I had to take a bit of a break so I could get it flowing again. Hopefully I dont go this long again]


	88. The happenstances of unhappiness

Snow. JJ hadn't expected it to come this soon. But it figured that it would happen on the day of their birthday. They watched it fall from the sky, gently settling onto the windowsill and melting away almost as soon as they hit.

They remembered they always used to set a hammock up outside with their moms, taking an umbrella and a blanket with them so they could stay out and watch the first snow together. After a while they would go back inside and have some hot cocoa. Mutter always made the best. She would add hazelnut creamer and top it with mass amounts of mini marshmallows and whipped cream, sprinkling on some crushed candy cane and cinnamon. They would laugh whenever the cream would inevitably smear across their faces, marking them with sweet white lines.

The memories came as an almost physical punch in the gut. They curled around themselves, attempting to desperately stop the tears from flooding to no avail. Not like it wasn't becoming a familiar feeling by this point, because it was. The questions only made it worse.

What was going to happen now?

Would the NERDS be able to finally beat The Judge and free the country from his rein?

Where would JJ go if they did? They didn't have anyone or any other home to go to, and like hell they were going back to foster care.

The questions sat there like weights, dragging them down into whatever dark crevice they knew they were slipping into despite their efforts. Being alone didn't help at all. Occasionally they would wonder what the NERDS had thought about their disappearance. Happy they wouldn't have to deal with the impulsive child that caused Jackson's capture.

God, Jackson was a completely different case in their mind. He had looked so horrible when they had last seen him. Did he even survive the trip back to base? The thought that he might not have made it caused bile to rise in their throat, and even more tears to spill onto their cheeks, dripping to the ground below.

The sudden rise of emotion caused them to need to spend another twenty minutes bent over the trash as they heaved up what little amounts of food they had downed minutes before. It left a disgusting taste in their mouth, a burning sensation in their throat, and an aching in their stomach. That wasn't even mentioning the small bout of hiccups that came from it.

They let themselves sprawl on the ground, attempting to let everything fade away. They used to be so good at that. But now? Now everything always seemed like too much. Like no matter what they tried, their mind would rebel against them and cause another bout of pathetic sobbing or something of the like. They shouldn't be complaining. They did this to themselves after all. They knew that. But it didn't stop anything in any amount.

After that, they opted to try to sleep away whatever bad emotions that had covered them like storm clouds would cover the world, turning it dark and gloomy as it rained upon those below. They climbed the stairs, but as they reached the top step, they heard a small noise. They stopped, straightening slightly as their eyebrows furrowed. Suddenly, they froze. It was the front door. The handle was jiggling slightly. Someone was trying to get in.

They quickly stepped into the hall of the upstairs, pressing themselves to the wall to listen. The jiggling stopped for a second. Suddenly, there was a click of the door unlocking, and the small creak as it opened and someone stepped inside.

Suddenly, a voice rang out. A voice that somehow made their heart soar with joy and froze their blood at the same time.

"Hello? JJ, are you here?" Jackson called. JJ didn't answer, eyes wide and staring at the wall. They wanted to run. They wanted to rush downstairs and jump into his arms. They wanted to disappear.

Their mind didn't react as their body did, sprinting quickly to their room and slamming the door behind them. They stacked as many things as they could against the door in mere seconds before backing away, looking around desperately for an escape. The hoverboard was downstairs. They couldn't go out the window. Jackson would be able to knock down the door with no problem, they knew that. A small part of them wanted him to.

As they heard his footsteps quickly come up the stairs, they sprinted to the closet, opening it and pulling a blanket from the small alcove above it in the same move. They slid inside, closed the closet door behind them, curled the blanket around them, and curled into a tiny ball. They didn't know what would happen, or even what they wanted to happen. But they did know that something was going to happen, whether they liked it, or not.


	89. The lost now found

Jackson hadn't expected it to snow as he walked down the empty streets towards his destination. However it was still a slightly welcome sight, he would admit that much. Snow always seemed to be so calming, with the way that it would muffle all sounds from the surrounding area, dousing the world in a blanket of quiet.

But in any case, that's not what he was out for. He had a mission, and he was planning on finishing it. Even if he didn't know if it would even get anywhere. He could still be hopeful that it would, at the very least.

Having walked on autopilot for most of the time he was walking, the man didn't notice as he finally arrived at his destination. He examined the house from where he stood for a moment, trying to see if there was anything to see. He walked over to the door, and grabbed the handle. He twisted it a few times, to no avail. It was locked. His eyebrows furrowed, taking his hand away and instead producing two small tendrils from his vest, quickly morphing them into a lockpick of sorts.

He stuck the objects in and fiddled with the door for a moment before the lock finally clicked, and he was able to swing the door open. He stepped inside and looked around the area for a moment before calling out.

"Hello? JJ, are you here?" He shouted through the house. The reaction was almost immediate. The sound of pounding footsteps rushed across the hall from upstairs, and a door suddenly opened and slammed shut hard. Jackson was sprinting his own way up the stairs as soon as he registered it.

He arrived at the top of the stairs, eyes wide as he searched around. He didn't need to search for long, as loud sounds of objects hitting one of the doors in the hall alerted him to which way he needed to go. He tried the door, but of course was locked. He bit his lip, knocking hard on the door.

"JJ! Is that you? Please come out. We've been looking all over for you!" He said.

No answer.

His eyebrows furrowed slightly, trying the door once again, and yet again to no avail. He shook his head, clenching his eyes shut for a moment before deciding what to do.

"Alright, I'm coming in whether you want me to or not. I'm not playing around here." He said firmly, once again producing the lockpicks from his vest and easily unlocking the door with them. And with that, he pushed the door open.

Or at least, he thought he would have. As he pushed, he was met with resistance, only leaving a small amount of give in the door. He groaned slightly. So that was what all the noise had been about.

"JJ, come on. Please." He said gently. He was met with no answer yet again. He took a few deep, calming breaths to ease his pounding heart as he backed up slightly.

"Alright. I'm going to force the door open. If you're on the other side of all that stuff, I suggest you move." He said, metal already beginning to wind down his arms to create giant hands.

And with that, he shoved the door hard, sending whatever was blocking it tumbling over and out of the way. Within a minute, he was standing within the room and looking around. Much to his surprise, there was no one around. He swallowed slightly, checking around the room until he came to the closet, and opened it.

There, in the very corner, sat a shaking ball of blanket, obviously an absolutely abhorrent attempt to hide. He knelt down next to it, placing a hand onto the ball with a nervous gentleness.

"JJ?" He asked quietly. He was not given an answer. That didn't mean he didn't already know it.

Within a second, he wrapped his arms around the blanket covered child and pulled them into his arms and against his chest as relief flooded his entire body. He felt them freeze as he did, but he could barely register it as he hugged them as tight as he possibly could.

"JJ, oh thank god, we we're so worried about you! We thought you might have been hurt, or that you might have tried to cross to a different town again, or that...that you might have..." He trailed off as his voice began to shake, resting his head atop where he assumed theirs was.

"We were just...terrified." He said quietly. After a couple seconds, he was surprised to hear an answer.

"...Why? I-I hurt you." JJ said, just barely even above a whisper. Jackson blinked, pulling back slightly.

"What? What do you mean? You didn't hurt me at all!" He said. This caused them to shift, curling up slightly more.

"Yes! I did! I tried to do something that I KNEW was fucking stupid, and you were caught and tortured because of it! You of all people should hate me for that." They cried. Jacksons eyebrows furrowed at that. He shook his head slightly, pulling at their blanket until he finally uncovered them slightly, half of their face poking out to stare at him with wide green eyes that pierced him through like a spear through paper.

"JJ...that was never your fault. And it never will be. You can't be blamed for trying to save your loved ones. I'm sure all of us would have done the exact same thing. It's ok. I don't, and never will hate you for that." He said gently. JJ continued staring at him, their eyes slowly beginning to water up as their body started shaking all over again and their face wavered.

Jackson was relieved of his breath when they suddenly slammed into his chest, burying themselves into it and wrapping their arms as much as they could around his torso. He looked down at them in slight surprise, but bit back any words he would have said as they began sobbing hard.

After the initial surprise, he leaned back against the wall and brought one arm up to make small circles on his back and the other to lightly run through their hair. His shirt was quickly becoming wet with tears. Jackson rocked slightly as he did his best to shush them and help put them to rest. He would message the others on their watches and get an explanation for JJ's disappearance later. For now, he opted to simply do his best to comfort the child.

It felt like years since he had last seen them. He cared for them much more than he ever thought he could, their outward and usually utterly confident personality growing on him with every day he spent with them. He could only hope they would be alright after all this. God knew that the things that they had seen could scar anyone for their entire life.

But for now, he would wait for their cries and sobs to die down. He could work from there. No worrying about the future, because the present mattered more for now.


	90. Coming home

Time had passed, and eventually the cries had finally faded away into small sniffles and hiccups. Jackson shifted once again, looking at JJ for a moment.

"Hey...you going to be alright? Ready to go out now?" He asked gently. JJ sniffled slightly and nodded, looking up at him with tired, bloodshot eyes. He sighed, sliding his hands beneath them as he stood up, picking them up with him as he did. It earned him a small squeak of surprise, but they settled quickly as he stepped out of the closet.

"Alright. Do you mind moving all this stuff out of the way so we can actually open the door all the way? I mean, your upgrades are impressive, but no need to be throwing things at doors to show off." He joked. JJ let out a small snort as they reached a hand out. Almost immediately, all the objects that had previously been semi blocking the door flew from their places and back to more or less their original places. Jackson gave them a small, thankful nod as he finally pulled the door completely open with his foot and stepped out.

"How...did you find me?" JJ asked quietly as Jackson walked down the stairs.

"Well, we found one of your notebooks in a store, and we figured that you had been moving around. So we all decided that we would check all the places we had already checked before. Seems like we just missed you." He replied. JJ froze slightly, muttering things in what he could assume was German until they looked back at him.

"Yeah. I moved around. But...I just...it didn't...feel right. So I went home. But home felt even worse. But I was scared that if I left home, that you would end up finding me. You still found me anyway." They said, laughing bitterly at the end as they looked away. Jackson's face softened more, giving them a reassuring squeeze.

"Yeah. I found you. Just so you know, you're going to be coming with me wether you like it or not." He said. JJ snorted, giving him a look.

"I figured as much." They retorted.

Jackson reached the kitchen, and JJ gave him a pat as a signal to be let down. They began puttering around almost as soon as their feet hit the floor, looking around and beginning to toss various things onto the dining table. Jackson sat down in one of the chairs, simply watching them.

"So. Can you tell me why you left?" He eventually asked after a couple minutes of silence. JJ paused, biting their lip and staring at the can they had in their hand.

"I...was just scared." They said, beginning to move about again.

"Before my moms took me on, I was always used to people dumping me or beating me if I did something wrong. I learned to stop worrying about it when I spent some a while with my moms, but like, then they were suddenly gone, and I didn't have anybody else to run to when I fucked up. And don't bullshit me on this, because I know I fucked up hard. Don't try to downplay that. But in any case, I was scared for that entire time. Then I came in and saw what you being captured had really done, and that was just another step. And when you were finally rescued? Like hell I thought you were going to forgive me for that. I honestly still cant believe you actually have, to a degree. I thought you all would just be like...like everyone else had. So I ran. I didn't want to have to deal with that again." They explained. Jackson's eyebrows furrowed, standing up and coming over to put a hand on their shoulder.

"JJ. I would never blame you for what happened. None of the others would either." He said gently. JJ sighed, looking away and shaking their head.

"I guess." They said, pulling away to continue gathering the supplies they had.

"It really figures you would find me today, too." They said as they finished packing the items. Jackson raised a brow as they double checked around for any stray things they hadn't gathered.

"How so?" Jackson asked.

"My birthday. Finally turned thirteen." They replied nonchalantly. Jackson's eyebrows shot up, straightening up.

"Birthday?!?" He cried, causing JJ to jump and turn to him.

"Uh, yeah? What's wrong?" They asked, blinking in confusion. They yelped as they were suddenly swept into Jackson's arms, flailing slightly.

"We have to get you back to base so we can throw a party! You don't deserve to be alone on your birthday." He said, quickly tapping out a few things on his watch before letting a few metal tendrils gather the supplies.

"Ready to go?" He asked. JJ gave him a disgruntled look, but nodded slightly. Jackson grinned, sprinting out of the kitchen. JJ reached a hand out to pull their hoverboard to them as they left the building, watching as the house quickly grew distant. They swallowed down a lump in their throat, looking away one last time. They had a feeling they wouldn't be going back to that place for a good long time.


	91. Feels like home

Wind brushed by the two's hair as the makeshift car drove down the street. JJ had been impressed that Jackson was able to make something of this extent, even though they really shouldn't be. Although in any case, their heart was still pounding in their chest as they approached the very familiar wall they had built themselves what seemed like years ago now. Jackson had been chatting at them the whole way, but they could barely hear him over their own thoughts. They didn't suspect he noticed it. Or if he did, he was still trying his best.

They were jerked out of their own head as the car stopped suddenly, stepping out of the car just before it deconstructed and whirled back into his vest.

"Hey!!! JJ!! Welcome back kid, we were really worried about you!!" Came a loud shout from behind the two. Almost immediately as they heard it, JJ felt themselves being swept up into a crushing bear hug that made the air leave their lungs in a burst. They tilted their head up to look at their attacker, seeing the signature buzzcut and wide grin of none other than Matilda Choi.

"Uh, hey Matilda. Good to see you again." JJ said awkwardly, their body tense in her arms. The woman squeezed them once again before finally releasing and allowing them to breathe as she ruffled their hair.

"JJ, do us all a favor and never do that again. We were all terrified that you had actually tried to cross the border again or something." She said, gently this time. JJ nodded slightly, looking down.

Jackson noticed the look on their face, and put his arm around their shoulders.

"Hey, lets go in now, huh? I'm sure everyone is dying to see you after so long. Especially Dandy." He said. JJ nodded once more, pulling the hoverboard off their back and tossing it forward so they could step onto it.

After a moment, the three were shooting up the side of the wall like they had done so many times before. JJ would deny the fact that their heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of their chest. In the back of their head, they considered running again. But no, that wasn't going to happen. They had been running long enough, and it was about time they faced up to the consequences that might lie beyond the wall.

They hesitated for a moment when they reached the top, biting their lip before taking a deep breath and sailing over. Already they could see their friends standing at the entrance of the school, waving at the three as they came to the ground. Almost as soon as they did, JJ felt themselves be swept into a crushing group hug, to which the only ones who seemed not to participate were Ruby and Jackson, giving one another a look that said something they couldn't quite place.

Eventually, however, Ruby had to come forward to push the group apart, giving them all a stern look.

"I know all of us are happy to have them back, but let's not crush them to death as soon now that they're finally here, alright? We still have things to do with them inside, after all." She said. The others gave their various confirmations, and JJ found themselves being pushed inside.

It felt overwhelming. Their heart was still beating erratically in their chest as the group chatted at them in happy tones. They could barely feel like breathing from all of it. They could hear themselves talking as well, but they felt distant. Disconnected. Almost out of body in a way, like they could float up and fly away from the earth at any second.

But then there was a firm hand on their shoulder, sending them plummeting back down and grounding them quicker than the time it took to pop a balloon with a needle. They glanced up, their own eyes meeting dark brown framed by square glasses. Ruby. She had a look that they yet again could not identify. But then again, they didn't know if they really had to. The woman gave their shoulder a small squeeze, and they felt themselves gravitate into her side almost immediately. The voices they talked to didn't seem so distant anymore, and they finally found themselves sitting down at a familiar table in the cafeteria.

Julio had made cake. Like all his other cooking and baking, it was amazing. Not that they expected any less.

As it went on, JJ found themselves talking easier as the fear constricting their body slowly abated. Although despite that, a dark, tugging voice echoed in the back of their head like it always had, keeping them from calming completely. It was annoying, but they dealt with it. It wasn't like they hadn't done it before.

In any case, the day wore on, and when everyone was finally good and ready to go to bed and stop crowding the child, JJ was quite happy with being back in The Playground so they could fall onto their bed. They were quick to drift off into a dreamless sleep, leaving behind all the static of the day. As the blackness enveloped them, they silently hoped for tomorrow to be a better day.


	92. The end of a tiring day

Jackson heaved in quick breaths as he woke up, staring wide eyed at the ceiling and gripping the sheets below him in an iron grip. By this point, he couldn't say he wasn't used to it. At least he hadn't fallen out of the bed this time.

He glanced over at Ruby, still laying undisturbed beside him. She shifted slightly, but stayed asleep. Jackson bit his lip, letting out a sigh and pushing himself from the bed. He wasn't about to bring himself to wake Ruby up again for a nightmare like some kid waking up their parent to calm them down. No, he didn't think so. He had already done enough of that.

He silently made his way out the door and into the hall, careful not to make too much noise as he closed the door. The halls were almost deathly quiet as he made his way down them, making even the bare sounds of his own breathing seeming to echo throughout the halls like gunshots as he walked. Thankfully, however, it didn't take long until he was at the doors of the makeshift living room, entering it and moving to turn on the tv as soon as he did.

He plopped down onto the soft cushions with a long sigh, flipping through channels with the remote in a half hearted manner. The voices from the television almost seemed like static in his bleary mind, but at least it kept him distracted for the moment. Distracted enough to not notice the almost silent sounds of pattering feet down the hall towards his location.

That was, until the door suddenly opened. Jackson jumped like a scared cat, tense and ready to leap to his feet and fight at a moments prompting. However he stopped, his fear replaced with confusion when the person finally stepped inside. Because standing there in a long wrinkled t shirt and shorts with a bleary expression, was JJ. Behind them hovered the familiar blue ball that was Benjamin, seeming to be keeping a close eye, or lens, on them.

"What are you doing up so late?" Jackson asked quizzically, eyebrows furrowed slightly. The child gave him a blank stare, saying nothing as they walked forward and sprawled themselves onto the couch from over the arm rest, sluggishly moving into position with their head on the nearest pillow like thing, aka his lap.

"JJ?" Jackson asked again. Once again, there was no answer as they curled up slightly.

Jackson swallowed slightly, worry sinking in as he shook them lightly.

"JJ. Are you ok?" He asked. They shifted slightly, looking up at him with furrowed brows and a look that said the gears in their head were grinding to even manage an answer.

"...Alptraum." They said after a long moment. Jackson gave them a questioning look before looking back up at Benjamin who still hovered above them.

"Mind translating?" He asked.

"Nightmare. I suspect that's why they're up. I happened to buzz by when they fell out of the lockers and started moving along like some kind of zombie out of a horror movie. I doubt they're awake enough to do very much." The little robot explained. Jackson hummed, looking down at JJ, who had once again closed their eyes and was only giving the occasional twitch or particularly heavy breath.

He leaned back with a slight sigh, rubbing at his face for a moment. The slight buzzing of Benjamin and the voices on the tv seemed less static now. He picked up the remote and turned the tv off, not wanting it to rouse the slumbering child, and placed it to the side.

"I guess I'm going to be here for a while, then. Don't want to wake them up." He sighed. Benjamin chirped out what he could only assume was the equivalent of a laugh as he buzzed about.

"I suppose not. But do try to get some sleep. Staying up so much is not good for your physical or mental health." Benjamin stated. Jackson shrugged slightly and shook his head.

"I know. But you can't blame me for not being too keen on sleep when all I get are nightmares." He replied. Benjamin was silent for a moment before slowly floating down onto the table next to the tv.

"I suppose not. Even so, rest assured that you are safe now. If someone unsavory even thought of coming in, I would sound the alarm and give them a taste of how it feels to be hit with a laser that can cut through wood." He said.

Jackson cringed at the thought, but let out a snort at the same time.

"Perish the thought." Jackson joked, absently carding his fingers through JJ's tangled hair. He suddenly realized something, quickly reaching into his pocket and pulling from it a small dog tag necklace. He smiled slightly, carefully wrapping it around their wrist before leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

"Happy birthday, kid." He said quietly, slowly drifting off into a dreamless, but peaceful sleep.

The next day, he awoke to find both Benjamin and JJ gone. However in their place was a plate of still warm pancakes and bacon with maple syrup, a glass of apple juice to the side of it. He chuckled despite himself, shaking his head as he took it into his hands to begin his day.


	93. Danger or not

"JJ, where are we going?" Noah asked as he was tugged through The Playground by his friend. Only a few minutes earlier he had been snatched by JJ and quickly pulled to The Playground without a single explanation, and he was slightly leery about the reasons, because usually being pulled by JJ away to some unknown place wasn't a good thing. They grinned back at him, a twinkle in their eye as they continued.

"You have to see this thing I found. I was exploring around the place, and I saw this weird door. There was a panel next to it, and I couldn't get through it by anything else I could find, so I kinda ended up just taking it off and messing with the wires and stuff to get it open, and I found all this cool stuff!" They explained excitedly. Noah gave them an incredulous look.

"Hold on, what? You know how to do that? You shouldn't have! The stuff could be dangerous!" He said. JJ frowned slightly, not answering for a moment before shaking their head as if clearing it, and rolling their eyes at him.

"For one, heck yeah I know how to do that! Who do you think was the one who messed with the intercom system a year ago? I know my way around that stuff. And secondly, don't worry! I wasn't gonna touch any of it." They replied. Noah gave them a look as the two finally came to a stop in front of a large door.

Noah glanced to the side of it, and like JJ had said before, he saw the panel to the side of it on the floor, and the exposed wires were obviously tampered with. His friend stepped to the side to shove their hands between the crack of the door, and with a couple solid pulls, the door slid into the wall to open. They grinned back at him once more, and walked inside. Noah sighed, crossing his arms in front of himself nervously, and followed them in.

The room was dark, only a couple seemingly close to dying lights flickering overhead. However from what was visible, there were tables and tables of various machinery, weapons, unknown tools, and things of the like. Some was also scattered across the floor haphazardly, like someone had been in the room and had thrown things to the side in an attempt to get something. However depending on the dust coating every surface, it seemed like it had been a long time ago.

Noah jumped when JJ put a hand on his shoulder, a grin present on their face.

"Come on, it's really close. Just a little more." They said. Noah worried at his lip as the two pushed forward through the mess, towards the very back of the room. As they continued forward, it only seemed to get darker and more unnerving, making Noah shift closer to JJ, grabbing the back of their shirt.

"Uh, JJ? I don't think we should be in here. It's creepy." He said nervously. JJ shifted to give him a pat on the shoulder, finally stopping.

"I'm sure it's fine. And besides, we're here. Take a look at this!" They said, clambering over another few machines and waving him over from behind one of them.

Noah let out a sigh, shaking his head before carefully making his way over. When he finally did, he froze. Sitting there, seemingly completely shut down, was a large robot.

"What is that?" Noah asked with wide eyes, looking to JJ. They shrugged slightly, kicking it a couple times.

"I dunno. But it's not working, that's for sure. Probably got a busted mainframe or something. Or maybe not." They said. Noah swallowed, taking a step forward to examine it further.

The robot looked human, at least in shape. Various ports and outlets were scattered about it's grey metal body, although it seemed like there was some blackened char marks around a few of them. A couple of dents and scratches could be seen across it, although there wasn't much other than that in terms of external damage. It was heavily built, with a large torso and awkward, squarish limbs. It's eyes had no light behind them, rendering them completely black. It was almost disturbing, seeing this large robot in the back of a darkened room. Noah swallowed and took a step back.

"Uh, I think we should tell someone about this. Maybe the others know something about it. I just wanna leave." He said, shifting back and forth on his feet.

"You do that if you want. Duncan would probably be the one to ask, since he's the best with tech. I'm gonna stay here and check this thing out some more. And before you say anything, I'll be careful. I won't take it apart or anything without knowing if it's gonna kill me are not. Ok?" JJ replied.

Noah swallowed again, taking a moment before nodding. He then turned on his heel, and shot away as quickly as possible. Once he was out of the room, he finally took a breath. He didn't particularly want to go in there without any adults. So, like JJ had suggested, he shook himself off and went to find Duncan. Thankfully, he knew where he would be. After all, Duncan was almost always in his little science room working on various projects.

Noah rushed along, taking a couple minutes to finally arrive at the door before practically slamming the door open and hurrying inside, where Duncan jumped with surprise at the sudden intrusion.

"Duncan! We need help!" Noah said. Duncan turned, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Whoa whoa, hold on, what's up? Are you ok? What's going on?" He asked, raising his hands in a calming gesture.

"JJ broke open a door and found this room that's all full of weird stuff, and then they found a robot and came to show it to me but I don't know if it's gonna hurt us or if it's actually still active or anything!" Noah said almost frantically. Duncan's eyebrows shot up, stiffening slightly.

"They what?" He asked incredulously, his mind whirring for a moment as he struggled to think of what it could be. Then he froze.

"Oh...shoot. I think I get it. Come on, let's get JJ out of there before they hurt themselves." He said, quickly moving ahead of Noah and to the door. Noah fell into step behind him, swallowing down his nervousness and seriously hoping that JJ had not done anything risky once more.


	94. Who he used to be

Duncan hadn't been in this room for a long, long time. Not since he watched the aftermath of the villain virus begin to be cleaned up and stored into various places, waiting to be destroyed so they couldn't be used again. He remembered it having been so confusing to him at first, having no memory whatsoever of the ordeal after he had been infected and still almost not understanding when it was explained to him. That was a feat, for a boy who created robots and took apart advanced machinery only to put it back together even more efficiently than it started out as in his free time. Once again, he had overestimated his upgrades abilities to protect his body. Or maybe he had simply underestimated the virus. Either way, he had still gotten infected, and he had no way to stop it.

However, that isn't what truly made him uncomfortable. What made it feel like his stomach was dropping down into his feet every second he stood there.

No, what made him feel that way, was the knowledge of what the two were here for, and the memories and distant knowing that he was going to have to explain that came with it. He knew that Albert was in there, and that JJ was going to nag him until he told them all the juicy details about his background. Well, juicy details for them at least. Grisly for him, now that years had passed and he had time to think on and process what had actually happened that day.

He was knocked from his thoughts, however, at the feeling of a small hand gripping his shirt. He glanced down at Noah, close to his side and looking up at him nervously as they stood in front of the metal door into the room. He hoped he hadn't been frozen in thought for too long. He smiled in a way he hoped was comforting, and ruffled his hair slightly.

"Don't worry, Noah. It won't take too long to get them out of there." He said, finally reaching for the door and yanking it open. The fact that JJ was able to mess with the wiring enough to actually open it slightly still impressed him, but it wasn't something he dwelled on as he stepped into the dark room.

"JJ! We're here!" He called, looking around. The response was almost immediate, a few loud clatters of some things hitting the floor before he saw a tiny face peek out from behind a divider at the very end of the room, barely visible.

"Hey guys! Come on! I think I knocked something loose!" They called out before ducking back behind the divider. Duncan bit his lip and took a deep breath before continuing forward, pushing past the clutter of the room to get to where they were.

"I thought you said you weren't gonna mess around with it." Noah said as he rounded the corner, Duncan right behind him.

"I didn't. Too much. I tried to move it forward so I could get a better look at its back, and it just fell forward and a panel fell off. I didn't do anything." JJ retorted as they sat on their heels, said panel under one arm as they looked over. Duncan nearly froze as he saw Albert, as large and as humanlike as he remembered him to be. Albeit much more dusty.

"Carful! Something back there might turn him on, and that would be less than good." He said quickly, walking forward to nudge JJ away from the bot.

"Really? Cool. What is it?" They said, standing up again.

"No, not cool. His name was Albert. Or, well, upgrade. It depends. And he's a robot, as you can see. He was able to take pretty much anything and connect it to himself, ending up giving him some pretty destructive powers. He messed up The Playground pretty good last time he was active. Luckily Benjamin was able to short circuit him." He explained, crossing his arms as he looked the now bot over.

JJ oohed from their spot beside him, nudging Albert with their foot again and looking up at him with a sparkle in their eyes.

"Where'd he come from?" They asked. Duncan bit his lip, tensing unintentionally. He didn't particularly want to talk about how he had been the cause of two people's deaths, if Albert counted. But he knew that neither JJ nor Noah were stupid, and even if Noah didn't see through his lie, JJ would.

He let out a long sigh, rubbing at the back of his neck and looking away. He didn't have much of a choice in what he had to do.

"Well...he used to be a person. Back when Heathcliff was Simon, Albert got caught up in working for him in exchange for a promise of superpowers. Things happened, and eventually they broke into The Playground and got what they came for. Albert's body was too messed up and out of shape to do anything much that would help, so he got turned into that instead. And I already told you how that ended up. After that I had to go up and punch Heathcliff's lights out. Or, well, his teeth at least. He and his goon were lucky to survive the fall. Can't say the same for Mama, though." He finally explained, mumbling out the end. JJ blinked in surprise, examining the look on his face. They were quiet for a moment before looking back at Albert and crossing their arms in thought.

"He used to be human...?" Noah asked nervously, staring wide eyed at the robot in front of them. Duncan nodded silently, still chewing on his lip. Nobody spoke for a minute, until JJ turned and looked up at him.

"Why don't we wake him up?" They said bluntly. Duncan choked on air, looking at them incredulously.

"Are you kidding? That isn't a good idea in a million years." He replied. However there was a wide grin on JJ's tiny face, and he had a distinct sinking feeling.

"Why not? If he just short circuited, it should be easy enough to fix as long as none of his motherboard or memory cards are melted or broken or something. We could just transfer the data over to something else if we need to, too." They said. Duncan put his hands on his hips and gave them a firm disapproving look.

"JJ, no. This isn't going to happen. I don't want something to happen and The Playground to get destroyed again." He said flatly. But JJ had already turned away, kneeling down and beginning to fiddle with the bot.

"JJ." He groaned. He had a feeling it was going to be a long day.

{Ok! So! We finally hit a year on this fic yesterday!!! I am really really happy. You have no idea. This has been a blast to write, and we're not even done yet. I love this fic so much, and the fact that I get to talk and write and show it to as many people as I want is just really exciting to me. I just wanna thank anybody reading this for coming this far. Its extremely encouraging to see yall here, and I will continue to make this fic for everyone to see the end of. In any case, just yeah. Im really emotional about this.}


	95. A different perspective

Julio grumbled slightly under his breath as he concentrated on the meringue in the bowl in his hands, whisking away at it in frustration as the oven began beeping at him. He groaned as he attempted to turn and open the fridge with his foot but only succeeded in slipping and falling on his back with a curse. Thankfully only a slight bit of the food had spilled out of the bowl and onto his forehead, and he opted to put it aside for a few moments to gather the chilled pie crust from the fridge and turn off the ovens timer.

"Having fun there?" A voice suddenly came from behind him, making him jump and glance over to see the familiar grin of a certain short young woman.

"Yes, I am in fact." Julio replied with a cool tone, continuing to work at his task. Matilda's grin wavered for a moment, going quiet as she watched him begin to roll out the crust.

"You know...I never took you to be a cooking type." She said after a minute, all too quietly for her taste. Julio shrugged slightly as he took a pie tin and pressed the crust into it.

"I don't think anyone did. But I had to pick something to do to help keep myself busy after mama Rosa died, so I picked something that I at least had a previous interest in. Or, well, obsession more like." He said, chuckling near the end before sighing and going quiet again as he began to put the filling in. Once again Matilda watched him quietly, examining him closely.

He had changed more than she had originally thought. Much more. In the beginning, she was much too happy and content to just be back together to notice the changes. In all of them.

Julio moved smoothly now, gliding easily across the kitchen like he had been doing it his entire life, free from the jerky motions and twitches and sudden bursts of energy he had when he was younger. He still moved fast, yes, but he no longer tripped and stumbled over his own feet and giggled madly as he shoved chocolate bars down his throat at every chance he got.

There was a distant sort of discomfort when she noted it. One that she didn't care to admit. The man had been one of her best friends when they were younger, and seeing the him having changed so much seemed like too much to take in. She had to admit in the time they had been there, she hadn't interacted with him outside of meal times much at all. In fact, she hadn't been interacting much with anyone. It was the same for the others as well, she had observed, save of course for Jackson and Ruby. They weren't avoiding each other, but she knew somewhere in herself that they had moved on long ago. And when they were back together again after so many years of change and work, the puzzle pieces didn't seem to fit as well as they had so long ago.

"You've changed a lot." Matilda finally mentioned, leaning against the wall.

"You haven't." Julio retorted, finishing the pie with a slight flair, and taking it to put in the oven. Matilda chuckled, rolling her eyes.

"We should really make time to catch up more some time. I doubt that one night at the hotel put too much of a dent in getting back together." She said as Julio put on the timer. He glanced back, blinking and raising a brow.

"What brought this on?" He asked. Matilda gave an exaggerated pout, crossing her arms.

"What? Is it so wrong I want to get more in touch with my friend? It's been a while, and we haven't exactly been talking much outside of over food." She said before laughing. Julio let out his own slight chuckle as he stood up and looked towards her with a smile.

"Yeah. I'd like that very much. Maybe after lunch we can go to the former teachers lounge and talk there." He said. Matilda grinned once more and nodded, opening her mouth to reply but stopped when the two shrieks of very different emotions as well as the familiar, albeit distressed voice of Duncan echoed through the hall outside.

Matilda and Julio blinked at each other, jogging to the door to peek out of the kitchen just as a blur of movement shot past the cafeteria door like a bullet, vaguely shaped like two children riding atop some giant hulk of metal, but too fast to catch, Duncan sprinting past shortly after.

For a second, the two simply stood in silence, wide eyed as the gears in their head turned.

"I...should probably...you know. Help..him. I think." Matilda said awkwardly, pointing to the door. Julio patted her on the back with a sympathetic look and chuckled slightly with a shake of his head.

"Good luck. You'll probably need it." He said, waving her away. She nodded, quickly turning to jog away. She took one last glance at him before she left, giving a small thumbs up before finally shooting out of the room.

{Ok so, sorry yall about disappearing for a bit. I had a big writing block that I couldnt get through, and ended up not doing anything because of it. Hopefully its gone now and I can continue to write. Dont worry, im not gonna abandon any of my stories.}


	96. Nuts and bolts

Heathcliff hummed a tune as a light heat emitted from the small welding torch he held, flicking it on a couple of times before aiming it onto the two pieces of metal in front of him and beginning to weld them together. It was a nice, calm day, snow gently falling outside as sunlight shone through it and into the window, and the man could barely be bothered by anything else. Perhaps he would take a nap after he was done with this project. It did sound like a good idea. However as it seemed, the universe had a very different plan in mind.

Heathcliff turned towards the door slightly, turning off the welding torch as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion at the sudden noise echoing in from the hall. It sounded like screaming. And yelling. From four very familiar voices. The man walked to the door, opening it and peeking outside. For a few moments, the screaming only got closer until finally the source of said screaming and yelling finally made itself known as a sudden blur of grey, brown, red, yellow, and green came barreling around the corner.

Heathcliff yelped as he backpedaled away from the door, the blur finally screeching to a halt in front of it to reveal JJ and Noah sitting atop an uncomfortably familiar robot. The two looked disheveled, but JJ was grinning, while Noah looked like he had just seen his life flash before his eyes.

"That. Was. Epic." JJ giggled madly, hopping to their feet and looking back at Noah.

"N-No it wasn't...it was terrifying! You could have k-killed us!" Noah stammered, wobbling to his own feet and gripping JJ to steady himself. His friend patted him on the back, giving him a sympathetic look.

"Aw, don't worry. I would never kill you. A little speed never killed anybody." They said.

"I bet the people who got into car crashes because of speeding said the same thing before they died." Noah muttered. JJ frowned, seeming to shrink slightly and wrap their arms around themselves before the sudden sound of something akin to a rocket engine interrupted the two.

A couple moments later, Matilda came rocketing into view, holding onto a Duncan who was clinging to her for dear life and flailing his legs about before they finally came to rest next to the two children.

"Hey kids, finally decided to stop, huh?" The woman said, putting a hand on her hip as she looked down upon the other two.

"Yup. Cause we found Heathcliff!" JJ said, motioning towards the aforementioned man, still staring at the four in bewilderment.

"JJ, you are not bothering Heathcliff to be in this little "bring Albert back to life" scheme of yours. I already said it could be dangerous." Duncan said as he shook himself off.

"But Duncan! That's like, a person right there! Kinda cruel to leave him in basically a coma when we could do something about it." They shot back, crossing their arms.

"Hold on, hold on. What's going on here?" Heathcliff finally spoke, walking over to the four.

"JJ more or less broke into the lower storage unit we were using for storing things from the virus, and found Albert. Now they want to wake him up, and I don't plan on letting them. You know what happened last time he was awake." Duncan said, glancing at the other man.

"But if you put the data in something else, he couldn't do anything!" The child protested, glaring at him.

"JJ we are not going to go over how hard it is to transfer that much data into something new. I know it seems cruel, but it's for the better."

Heathcliff blinked, looking between the arguing party and the other two, who only watched uncomfortably as it unfolded.

"Um, it actually...doesn't sound that bad of an idea in my opinion." Heathcliff said slowly, interrupting the two. They went silent, all four of them looking over at him. He watched as JJ's face lit up, nearly jumping for joy as they bounced over to him.

"Really? Could you do it? Pleeeeeeease?" They said, clasping their hands together and giving him their best puppy dog eyes. Heathcliff rubbed at the back of his neck, looking up at Duncan, who's mouth was pulled into a tight line. The two exchanged a long look, Duncan's firm face beginning to waver before finally dropping in defeat with a sigh.

"Well, yes, I could do it. It may take a while though. It's been a bit since I've dealt with stuff like what Albert is made up of. Duncan, will you help?" Heathcliff said. He heard the man mumble a few incoherent words under his breath as he shook his head, finally looking up at the group.

"Fine. I'll help. But JJ, if things go south, don't tell me I didn't warn you." He said. JJ lit up further, squealing slightly and jumping over to hug the man.

"Thank you! I promise you won't regret it." They said excitedly before reaching out to snatch Noah's hand.

"Come on! We need to go tell!" They giggled, already tugging the boy out.

Their exit left the room quiet, the occupants simply left staring at the door.

"So...are you sure about this?" Matilda asked quietly, glancing at the bot still lying on the floor.

"Honestly, not really. But I guess that JJ was right in the fact that it's cruel to keep him down when we don't have to. He did used to be a person." Duncan sighed.

"Yeah..." Heathcliff said, shaking his head. "We can get to work tomorrow. I think we'll need some time to prepare ourselves. You know as well as I how complicated the inner workings on Albert are."

Duncan nodded, rubbing the back of his neck and turning away from the bot towards Matilda.

"Yeah. See you then, I guess." He said. The woman threw her arm around his shoulders with a slightly sympathetic grin, leading him out of the room and once more leaving Heathcliff alone.

Well, at least he had a goal to focus on now. Hurray.


	97. Chill

Ruby sighed as she leaned back against Jackson, her eyes scanning across the fields of the school who's roof the two perched atop. The snow had finally begun coming in full force, leaving the whole group with not much choice but to go out and enjoy it. She could see Noah, JJ, and Matilda in an all out snowball fight on top of the tiny hill not too far off, and Duncan, Heathcliff, and Julio near the front of the school simply talking away about something she couldn't quite hear from the distance she was at.

She looked to the side slightly when she felt Jackson rest his head onto her, mumbling something into her shoulder.

"What was that?" Ruby asked, raising a brow. The man moved his head up to look at her, letting out a small huff, his breath visible in the cold.

"Just said that I'm not sure why we can't stay inside and have hot cocoa or something." He said. Ruby let out a small chuckle, turning her head to kiss his temple.

"You know why. Just staying cooped up in our room or the living room isn't good for you. Cocoa is for later once we go inside. Alright?" She said. Jackson stuck his tongue out at her, once again putting his face against her shoulder. She put a hand up to gently comb through his hair, a slight smile coming to her face as she felt him relax against her and wrap his arms around her waist.

Once again she looked out to the snow covered school grounds, taking a deep breath and letting it out to watch her breath come out and dissipate like smoke. Julio, Duncan, and Heathcliff were still near the entrance talking, while Noah and Matilda seemed to have teamed up to bury JJ within a mound of snow. Distantly, she could hear their shouts of protest mixed with the occasional small bout of laughter in between.

She settled further against Jackson, closing her eyes and leaning her head back as she ran a thumb across one of his hands.

"It's always so quiet in the winter." She said. Jackson hummed slightly in agreement, nodding.

"At least that's one nice thing about it. It's calming." He replied. Ruby snorted, smirking lightly at him.

"Aw, you don't like the snow anymore? What is it? Memories of trying to make those buff snow sculptures of you finally catching up?" She teased. Jackson groaned loudly, giving her a withering glare.

"Ruby, we absolutely do not talk about the buff snow sculptures I tried to make when I was a kid. It's embarrassing." He said. Ruby laughed, patting his head.

"Don't worry. The buff snow sculptures aren't going to get you." She said. He stuck a tongue out at her once more as she kissed his cheek again with a smile.

"Hey, what are you two lovebirds talking about?" A sudden voice interrupted the two, both of them jerking as they looked over to the person. The two let out a small sigh as they saw Matilda standing there with a grin on her face, Ruby feeling Jackson's arms relax slightly from the tight hold it had previously had on her abdomen.

"Jesus, Matilda. You can't sneak up like that." Ruby said with a small glare. Matilda chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Sorry, I just thought you would have heard the inhalers when I came up." She said apologetically.

"I guess we got a little caught up. But in any case, something wrong?" Jackson said as he looked up at the other woman.

"No no, just saying that we're heading in now. JJ got pretty soaked so I'm not gonna keep em' out any longer. Noah is pretty tired too and I'm pretty sure the other three are bored now. So yeah. Julio is making cocoa." She said, waving her hand slightly.

"We'll be in in a second." Ruby responded. Matilda nodded, chuckling slightly as she hopped off the roof, a small burst of noise coming from where she dropped before going quiet again as they heard her enter the building.

Ruby sighed, stretching her arms up and leaning against Jackson again as she looked over at him.

"Feeling ok?" She asked. He nodded slightly, pulling back.

"Yeah. Better now I think since you dragged me out for air." He chuckled. Ruby snorted as Jackson stood up, taking her hand to pull her up with him.

"Glad to help. A little fresh air never hurt anybody after all." She said with a smile. Jackson rolled his eyes despite the obvious grin on his face, sweeping her up into her arms and stepping off the roof. Ruby made a small, choked noise of surprise as they dropped, but were quickly caught by the metal spider legs that had slipped out from under Jackson's jacket. She glared slightly and crossed her arms, despite the small smile that twitched across her lips.

"Show off." She said. Jackson simply grinned as they settled onto the ground, not bothering to set her down as he pushed the door open to go in to the warmth and safety of the school, leaving the bite of frosty air far behind them.


End file.
